Chaos and Control: A Romeo & Juliet Story
by Blue Phoenix 12
Summary: For years, Green Hill has been ground to a feud between two rival factions: Chaos and Control. So when Miles of Control and Maria of Chaos meet and fall in love, it could have dire consequences for everyone. Can these two teenagers overcome all obstacles to be together, or will they face the same tragic fate as their Shakespearean parallels? OCs from "Generation Beta"
1. Old Enmities

Welcome, dear reader! The following story, "Chaos and Control", is a fanfiction I wrote based on William Shakespeare's _Romeo & Juliet_, starring my original characters and set in an alternate universe to their premiere story, "Generation Beta". I poured my heart and soul into every word of this fanfiction, and it took me over a year to finish it. Expect a new chapter to be published every Saturday. I welcome your comments and reviews, but more than anything, I sincerely hope you'll find as much joy in reading it as I did in writing it.

As mentioned above, this story features characters from my fanfiction "Generation Beta". Though it isn't necessary in order to follow "Chaos and Control", I invite anyone unfamiliar with that story to visit my profile and take the time to read it, as to this day I consider it one of the best published pieces of fiction I've ever written. Otherwise, have fun reading this new fanfiction!

To anyone wondering, there are a couple of reasons I decided to write my own _Romeo & Juliet_ adaptation:

1) I missed my fan characters and was desperate to write a new story about them.

2) As much as I love _Romeo & Juliet_, there are certain themes in Shakespeare's play with which I simply don't agree, so I challenged myself to create my own version of this classic story. This means that the basic plot of forbidden love is maintained, but I changed some details from the original work. Expect to see strong similarities to the play and some of my favorite adaptations, as well as plenty of new ideas. As for whether this tale will end the same way as Shakespeare's... you'll have to read to find out.

And before anyone asks: no, I did not write this story because of the new _Romeo & Juliet_ movie. My fanfiction was already almost a year in the works when I found out about the upcoming film, and when I did the math, I realized that at the rate I was writing, the story would be finished around the movie's release date, so I timed my publication to the same month. It was really a matter of luck.

Thank you for stopping by! Now on to my story: "Chaos and Control". Enjoy!

**_Rated T for themes of teenage rebellion, some graphic violence and mild coarse language._**

* * *

Character Parallels

Montagues – Control  
Romeo – Miles S. Hedgehog  
Friar Laurence/Benvolio – Lily R. Hedgehog  
Mercutio – Sonia Prower  
Lord Montague – Sonic the Hedgehog  
Lady Montague – Amy Rose  
Balthasar – Aaron Prower

Capulets – Chaos  
Juliet – Maria G. Hedgehog  
Tybalt – Rex Echidna  
Nurse – Angelica Bat  
County Paris – Eugene Princeton  
Lord Capulet – Shadow the Hedgehog  
Lady Capulet – Crystal Hedgehog

Citizens – Neutral  
Prince Escalus – Dr. Eggman  
Authorities – Teachers and staff of Emerald High

* * *

_Two factions, both alike in dignity,  
__In fair Green Hill, where I shall lay the scene,  
__From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,  
__Where civil fights make civil hands unclean.  
__From forth the fatal hate of enemies  
__A pair of teen hedgehogs find love for life,  
__Who dare to dream despite their families  
__And with their love bury their parents' strife.  
__The innocent passage of their young love  
__And the continuance of their parents' friction,  
__Which, but their children's hope, naught could remove,  
__Is fourteen chapters' course of this fanfiction—  
__The which, if you with patient eyes attend,  
__What here shall miss, my words shall strive to mend._

* * *

Chapter 1 – Old Enmities

In a unique world, in a large province with numerous communities, there was a modest and highly esteemed town known as Green Hill. This town was so named and revered for its utopian location, as it was ideally situated among rolling verdant knolls that extended out to a tranquil beach in one direction and vast open fields in every other. It was a place where spring always came early, gloominess never lingered for longer than a day, and the air was fresh and rich with pleasant fragrances all year round. In a land fraught with its fair share of turmoil, Green Hill had every potential to be an epitome of peace.

There was just one major problem...

* * *

On a sunny Saturday afternoon, somewhere along the outskirts of town, a young blue-eyed fox ran across the paths lining the village's many open patches of grass. In his right hand, he held a small brown bag, clutched tightly in his fist as he raced across the uneven ground as fast as his feet could carry him. This behavior could easily have been part of an innocent game, a simple weekend pastime typically enjoyed by children his age. But not today, not in Green Hill. No, this preteen fox, panting heavily as he glanced repeatedly over his shoulder, was running for his life.

After several minutes of sprinting without the slightest decrease in speed, the 12-year-old looked behind him for the umpteenth time to find that for as long as he had been running, nobody was chasing him, at least as far as he could tell. This was an immense relief, for he had been sure that by now, he would be a highly coveted target to a certain group of people. Unfortunately, as he would discover only a few seconds later, his relief was premature and doomed to be short-lived...

Suddenly, before he even had time to completely face forward again, the fox found himself being thrown to the ground at full force, launched by the energy behind his own speed after his foot collided with something he was almost certain had not been in his way moments ago. Spitting out grass and dirt as he recovered from his painful landing, the preteen realized that the "something" in question was the extended leg of a tall cat, whose long black boots and punk-style clothing gave her a very foreboding appearance. As the younger of the two looked up and their eyes locked, the girl's piercing stare and subtle snarl sent a chill down the boy's spine. It was only too obvious that he had stumbled into trouble.

"Well, well", said the teenage cat with a smirk, her pale eyes gleaming with malice. "What do we have here?"

The young fox swallowed in dread, but before he could muster up the courage to speak, another chilling voice sounded from directly behind him.

"Hey, Stephanie, look at this."

It was a male voice, and as he turned back to face the direction in which he'd been running, the young fox saw that it belonged to a dark vampire bat in a skull T-shirt and torn jeans. This new arrival was currently bending down to retrieve an item from the ground: the bag that had flown from the preteen's hand when he had tripped. Some of its contents had spilled over to scatter across the grass, though most of the objects were still in the bag into which the bat was now looking as he rose to his feet.

"What is it, Murdoc?" asked Stephanie. The other teenager examined the items in the bag for a minute before finally extracting one and tossing it to his friend.

"Firecrackers", he said. "And not the little kiddy kind."

The black cat caught the small explosive and held it up to study it for a moment, then looked down again at the rapidly paling fox still sprawled on the ground by her feet.

"This is powerful stuff, kid", she said, raising an eyebrow at the young boy. "Where'd you get this kind of firepower?"

The fox began to tremble in fear, too petrified to reply.

"These look like the bombs that went off in the park last week", added Murdoc. "Right in the middle of that football game."

"You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?" Stephanie asked the preteen fox, and now she took a step toward him and crouched to his level to stare into his wide blue eyes. "You know, the game that was just for players from Chaos?"

The boy stared silently back into the girl's pale yellow eyes, and rapidly shook his head in response. The cat smirked again.

"Really? Because we just heard another incident like that happened again today. Apparently, a bunch of firecrackers went off close to Emerald High about ten minutes ago, and the funny thing is, it was right where another group from Chaos was gathering for a meeting. Isn't that a strange coincidence?"

"Sure doesn't sound like a coincidence", the bat chimed in, and now the fox could sense him stepping closer as well. "Sounds more like another rotten scheme from Control to me."

"I think so too", said Stephanie without taking her eyes off the younger boy, the smirk vanishing from her face to make way for a more serious expression. "So tell us, kid: where'd you get these?"

The preteen remained silent for another minute, his interrogator's cold stare making him more nervous by the second, until finally he managed to find his voice.

"Th- They're not mine!" he suddenly stammered awkwardly. This statement seemed to pique the cat's interest.

"Is that so? Whose are they, then?"

"N- Nobody's..."

"Oh, I don't believe that. They gotta be somebody's..."

"They wouldn't happen to belong to... your older sister, by any chance?"

At this question, the young fox whirled around to face the vampire bat who had just spoken. Though he didn't say a word, the nervous look in the preteen's blue eyes was enough to confirm the teenagers' suspicions. Murdoc smiled smugly as he spoke again.

"That's what I thought. All right, get up, kid. You're coming with us."

"No, I'm sorry!" the boy cried out, now glancing desperately between his captors. "I was just-"

"Save it, shorty", snapped Stephanie as she grabbed the 12-year-old by the arm and pulled him to his feet. "We know someone who'd really like to talk to you..."

And with that, the party of three marched back in the direction from which the youngest had been running, the bag of firecrackers in the bat's hand and the terrified fox's arm in the cat's.

* * *

For as long as anyone could remember, Green Hill had been ground to a feud between two rival factions: Chaos and Control. While these two parties did not officially encompass the town's entire population, they still had an extremely powerful influence over the community, to the point where it had become almost mandatory for every citizen to affiliate themselves with one side or the other. Over the generations since the rivalry had begun, this enmity had spread continuously further to the town's younger age groups, until finally, in the present day, the constant friction between Chaos and Control seemed to be concentrated among Green Hill's youth – mostly the teenagers, though not excluding the occasional preteen...

* * *

Not too long after the terrifying encounter, the young fox found himself being led by his captors onto a large open plot with a few scattered trees, located close to the local high school. As the party of three stepped onto the grass of this area, the cat suddenly broke their prolonged silence with a shout.

"Rex! We got him!"

Just then, another group of teenagers appeared from behind a large tree several feet ahead, and walked across the plot to meet the approaching trio halfway. The faces of these new arrivals were not unfamiliar to the fox, and it was precisely this fact that was now causing his heart rate to accelerate. This scenario was exactly what he had been trying to avoid...

Once everyone had stopped in the middle of the area, the boy at the head of the larger group stepped forward. He was a tall red echidna, and though his worn jeans and the vest over his plain T-shirt gave him a casual appearance, his blue eyes commanded the most intimidating stare that could induce a chilling fear in any adversary he faced. This boy didn't just warrant respect; he demanded it.

As the captive fox looked up into the challenging eyes of Rex Echidna, he felt his heart sink lower with dread. The teenage echidna silently leered at the victim for a minute, then broke his gaze to face the cat still holding the preteen by the arm.

"Where was he?"

"Running away just outside town", replied Stephanie, releasing the boy and pushing him a step forward as she spoke. "He was almost on Control turf when we caught him."

"He had this on him", said Murdoc, and stepped forth to hand the bag of firecrackers to the group leader. Rex took it from the bat and opened it to briefly examine its contents. He then looked up to lock eyes with the fox again, a sneer now forming on his face.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked. The young fox hesitated before tentatively answering the question.

"...Aaron..."

"'Aaron'?" the echidna repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Aaron what?"

The 12-year-old paled slightly at this question, but didn't reply. Rex's sneer widened as he spoke again.

"You're one of the Prower kids, right?"

Still no answer. Evidently, the boy's name was of great significance, and they all knew exactly why that was.

"Let me guess", said the red echidna, and now he took a step closer to Aaron as his voice settled into a more dangerous tone. "These bombs aren't yours, are they? I bet they came from someone else... and I bet that 'someone else' is your big sister. So what happened, kid? Did she put you up to this? Did she dare you to sneak up on a bunch of kids from Chaos and set the bombs off?"

At these accusations, the fox began to rapidly shake his head in denial. Rex was not convinced.

"Come on, Aaron, you can tell us the truth. I mean, why take the blame for something that's not really your fault, right?"

The preteen quickly averted his eyes to look down at the ground. The echidna dropped his smug attitude and adopted a more sympathetic tone.

"I'm gonna let you in on a little secret, Aaron", he said, lowering himself to one knee so as to level with the young fox. "The people from Chaos don't believe in 'shooting the messenger'. We don't hurt anyone for actually pulling a prank on us, just for coming up with the idea for the prank. So if setting these bombs off in the middle of our meeting wasn't _your_ idea, we'd be willing to let you go... _if_ you'd be willing to tell us who was really behind it. What do you say?"

Timidly, Aaron turned his head up to look Rex in the eyes again, prompting a minute of suspenseful silence to pass. However, although he opened his mouth to speak, the next words to reach everyone's ears would not come from the young fox.

"I say it's a lousy idea."

At these words, all heads turned sharply in unison to face the midsection of a nearby tree, where everyone immediately found the source of the voice that had just spoken: standing on a large branch, leaning casually against the tree trunk, was a two-tailed vixen in a sporty shirt and loose-fitting jeans, gazing down on the scene below with a mischievous smirk. As all eyes fell on her, she pushed away from the trunk, then spun her tails around each other to render herself airborne in a matter of seconds. She gently floated down from the branch to land between the younger fox and the red echidna who had just risen to his feet. As the girl's hazel eyes locked with the older boy's blue ones, everyone else felt compelled to take a step back, apprehensive of the tension that by now was only too familiar to them all...

Despite the general unease, the vixen maintained her confidence as she stared at the echidna and addressed him coolly.

"Hello, Rex."

The teenage boy, in turn, gazed unblinkingly back at the two-tailed fox and replied in a tone as cold and sharp as his stare.

"Hello, Sonia."

The vixen sniggered briefly before continuing.

"So what's your plan? Instead of roughing the kid up right away, you promise to let him go if he'll point you to the one you really want? And then what? You wait to jump him another day instead?"

"Just because you Control kids don't honor your promises doesn't mean that those of us from Chaos can't", snapped Rex indignantly.

"At least we don't force Chaos kids to choose between taking a beating or betraying their faction and being marked as cowards", retorted Sonia. "If that's your plan, you're wasting your time. My little brother is no snitch."

Aaron looked up at his big sister, who glanced over her shoulder for a second to offer him a smile and a wink. The echidna scoffed in derision as the two-tailed vixen turned back to face him again.

"Your brother was caught running outside town with this", he said, indicating the brown bag still in his right hand. "We know he's the one who dropped these bombs on us earlier, and we're pretty sure it had something to do with you. So start talking, Sonia. Are these yours?"

The teenage fox glanced at the item her rival was holding. Had anyone been paying close attention to her expression in those few seconds, they might have noticed the slightest wavering in her otherwise confident smile. Fortunately, her uncertainty remained undetected by the others, and she still managed to pull off a convincing smirk as she looked up into Rex's eyes again.

"Yeah, those are mine", she admitted without the slightest hint of regret. "So?"

"So", the echidna continued, "is it true you put him up to it? 'Cause we're betting it was all your idea, just like the football game in the park last Saturday."

"Yep, you got me", Sonia replied curtly. "I'm the brains behind the whole operation; my brother is totally innocent. I'm the one you want, so let him go."

In response, a sneer returned to the teenage boy's face, unknowingly inducing unease in both Prower siblings.

"Not so fast, Sonia. I mean, even if you are the brains, he's still technically an accomplice. There should still be some kind of punishment, right? There's no deal for his release if he didn't actually turn you in himself."

"You don't want Aaron", said the two-tailed fox coldly, and now every trace of smugness vanished from her features as she took on a much sharper demeanor. "His Gift is in the Mind class, and his focus is music. Roughing up a kid whose no match for you would just make you look bad. Wouldn't you rather take on a challenge instead, like, say... a Control leader with a Gift in Flight?"

Rex knew that Sonia was testing him, and he was not about to let her get the best of him. Not in front of a whole Chaos group that looked up to him.

"Ha!" he taunted haughtily. "You really think you can beat someone with a Calling in Power? I could floor you in a second!"

"You'd have to reach me first", the vixen retaliated, a mischievous grin returning to her face. "I bet I could knock you out before you'd even have time to look up."

As the fox and the echidna continued to glare at each other, their friends began to glance nervously between them. The reasons behind this rivalry were common knowledge to everyone...

* * *

Ironically, Chaos and Control had every chance at amity. They were equally authoritative, each one holding influence over approximately half of Green Hill. Both factions handled political matters with similar diplomacy, and they were very much alike in the way they presented their ideas to the public. Yes, these two parties could easily have gotten along, were it not for one great issue on which they openly disagreed...

A trait common to all citizens belonging to either faction was the possession of a single special ability. These abilities, as far as anyone had yet determined, were divided into four main classes: Speed, Power, Flight, and Mind. They had also been given unique names by both parties: the people from Control called their abilities Gifts, while those from Chaos referred to them as Callings.

Generations ago, the gifted citizens of Green Hill comprised a single faction known as Chaos – named for the special energy that was believed to grant them their abilities – and this group played an important political role in running the town. Over time, however, disagreements arose within the faction over the true significance of abilities, until eventually a large portion of the group seceded to form an opposing faction, which they called Control. Ever since, the two sides had been engaged in a feud, each fighting for greater influence over the rest of Green Hill.

To Control, Gifts were birthrights, powers that came without obligations or responsibilities. The way they saw it, they had every right to use their abilities at their own will, however they themselves saw fit. Chaos, on the other hand, saw their Callings as blessings, bestowed on them for special reasons meant to be discovered throughout the course of their lives. To them, these abilities were intended to be used wisely, and squandering them was seen as an act of the utmost disrespect. As a result of these contrasting opinions, Control saw Chaos as ignorant fools who were unknowingly wasting the full potential of their powers, while Chaos in turn saw Control as arrogant jerks whose actions were generally reckless and selfish.

For generations, these two factions had never seen eye to eye. As much as the rest of Green Hill had tried to help them sort out their misunderstandings in the beginning, over time their rivalry had simply been accepted as the norm. With all hope for peace having been extinguished long ago, it was no wonder that the two teenagers now staring each other down by the school were inducing such unease in their watching peers...

* * *

"So what do _you_ say, Rex?" said Sonia, folding her arms conceitedly. "You wanna let my brother go and take _me_ on instead, one on one?"

"That's an interesting idea", the echidna replied without dropping his own confident air. "There's just one problem. You see, there are about... a dozen of us, and only two of you. Who's to say we can't all just take you both on right now?"

At this, the vixen chuckled in amusement, then brought her fingers to her lips and whistled loudly. A moment later, the teenagers of Chaos were all turning in unison to see another group now stepping out from behind the same tree on which the two-tailed fox had first been spotted. As these new arrivals slowly lined up behind the Prower siblings and the rest cautiously retreated to stand behind Rex, Sonia leered at her rival with a growing self-assurance in her hazel eyes.

"You wanna run those numbers again?"

The red echidna hesitated to scan the line of teenagers from Control before stopping his gaze on their leader once more. After an awkward pause in which he contemplated the opposing groups' matching numbers, he finally sighed in exasperation.

"Fine, your kid brother can go", said the Chaos leader, a hint of bitterness in his voice as he tossed the bag of firecrackers back to its original owner. "But he better watch his back from now on. If we catch him dropping any more bombs on us, he won't get off so easy..."

And with that, Rex turned and walked away, prompting the rest of his group to follow suit. On that cue, Sonia also turned away to face her peers, now looking forward to celebrating a minor victory over Chaos with them all. However, as they were about to find out, this encounter was not over just yet...

While most of the group from Chaos started to leave, a purple cat named Eugene Princeton remained still in his place, coldly eyeing the preteen fox standing among his sister and her friends. As he watched the smiles of victory forming on the Control kids' faces, he gingerly rubbed a bruise on his left elbow. He had been one of the injured victims of Aaron's prank, and the fact that the boy had just gotten away with it made his blood boil. The cat didn't care who was covering for the young fox; he wanted justice for his and his friends' humiliation... even if he had to get it himself.

No longer able to contain his rage, Eugene suddenly grabbed a small rock from the grass by his feet and, focusing his energy, chucked it at the Control group as fast as his Speed Calling would allow. The rock sailed through the air at a dangerously high speed, missing Aaron's shoulder by an inch and crashing into the large tree behind him. This action was not missed by the group, and now as Sonia whirled around to find the culprit, her smugness vanished to be replaced by a burning fury. The instant she caught sight of the purple cat a few feet away, she dropped her bag of firecrackers and rushed forward, tackling him to the floor before he even had time to register the attack.

By the time the struggling pair hit the ground, everyone else had become aware of the outbreak. Before the vixen had fully raised her fist to punch her brother's attacker, she was brusquely pulled back to her feet by a crocodile from Chaos rushing to his friend's aid. Before Sonia's new opponent could retaliate for the cat, however, he was pushed back by a green hedgehog from Control, who in turn took a hit to his right shoulder from Rex. The next thing everyone knew, Chaos and Control were immersed in a free-for-all.

About five minutes into the brawl, the noise had begun to attract attention from the nearby school and was drawing in spectators. One of the first to arrive on the scene was a lilac hedgehog in a navy blue knee-high skirt and a white shirt, running toward the fray with panic in her emerald green eyes.

"Stop!" she yelled. "Please, not again! Stop!"

The girl halted in her tracks only feet away from the melee, trying desperately to get their attention. It didn't take long for someone to notice her, but unfortunately, that someone didn't give her the kind of attention for which she'd hoped. Soon enough, the hedgehog found herself cautiously backing away from the echidna now advancing toward her with a menacing glint in his eyes.

"What's the matter, Lily?" shouted Rex. "Too scared to fight for your own side?"

"Hey, you leave my cousin alone!"

Catching sight of the new arrival, Sonia quickly distanced herself from the fray to rush to the lilac hedgehog's aid. Knowing full well that her pacifistic cousin would never accept a challenge to fight, the two-tailed vixen felt it was her obligation to stand up to the red echidna for Lily. Stepping between her rival and one of her family members for the second time that day, the fox glared unfalteringly at Rex again as she spoke in a harsh tone.

"First you pick on a 12-year-old kid, then you go after Lily Hedgehog, the school peace-monger? What's next? You gonna start harassing the Rabbit triplets?"

Insulted at the accusation of being one to bully 5-year-old girls, the echidna opened his mouth to retaliate. Before he could say a word, though, the air was suddenly pierced by the sharp blast of a coach's whistle, a sound that years of experience in Physical Education had taught every student of Emerald High to respect. In a matter of seconds, the fighting teenagers hesitated to look in the direction of the school, where they quickly noticed a group of adults approaching the open plot at a run.

At the head of the arriving group was the school's P.E. teacher, a beagle known as Coach Barkley, who was blowing his whistle as he hurried toward the fray. Behind him, a Great Horned owl in a blue blazer – the school's principal, Mr. Hornsby – could be seen scurrying away from Emerald High's main building with concern on his face, and on either side of him, two pairs of adult hedgehogs followed: on his left side, a blue and a pink hedgehog; and on his right, a black and a white hedgehog. By the time all these adults had reached the plot, the teenagers had ceased their fighting, all anticipating the discipline they knew was about to be imposed on them...

"What is going on here?" said Principal Hornsby as the noise of the coach's blasting whistle finally died down. "What's all this commotion?"

At the principal's questions, the teenagers once again flew into an uproar, this time fighting to have their voices heard as they all tried simultaneously to explain everything that had happened within the last hour. Unable to isolate a single voice in the cacophony, the owl turned to the beagle to request he use his whistle again. Before the coach had time to bring it to his lips, however, the yelling teenagers were silenced instead by a different set of noises: a loud horn blaring across the field, followed by an amplified male voice shouting through a megaphone.

"**ENOUGH**!"

Silence fell immediately as all heads turned sharply to face the source of the call, which had come from beyond the Chaos side of the plot. A moment later, a large one-person vehicle with a horn over the dashboard rolled into everyone's line of vision, carrying a tall round human man in dark goggles and a red suit that matched the remaining color in his graying mustache, the only hair on his head. Once the automobile had stopped some yards away, the man stepped out, tossed his megaphone back on the seat, and proceeded to stride toward his spectators with an expression of great anger and frustration.

"Enough!" he yelled again, directing the order at the youth. "This is the third time in two weeks that a fight has broken out, and my patience is wearing thin! Now I don't care how it started this time; I'm still the mayor of this town, and I still say fighting is prohibited on public property. Is that clear?"

Most of the teenagers looked down at the ground in shame, several of them tenderly rubbing fresh injuries such as black eyes and bruises. The man then turned sharply to address the two-tailed vixen and the red echidna standing some feet away from their friends.

"And you two! I know you both had something to do with this. You always do. What do you have to say for yourselves this time?"

Sonia and Rex glanced anxiously at one another, then looked down without saying a word. Principal Hornsby took it upon himself to patiently recall their attention.

"Ms. Prower, Mr. Echidna, Mayor Eggman just asked you both a question. I suggest you show him some respect and answer him."

The pair of rivals slowly turned their heads back up to face the mayor, and simultaneously gave the same bitter reply they'd been repeating for years.

"Sorry, sir."

Despite his doubts regarding the sincerity behind their apology, Eggman acknowledged it with a curt nod. He turned his attention back to the rest of the crowd and proceeded to address them all again.

"Prower, Echidna, you stay here and explain everything to the principal. The rest of you kids, go home! Sonic, Shadow, a word..."

As most of the teenagers dispersed and their leaders reluctantly approached the principal, the blue and the black hedgehog walked over to the mayor, who seemed almost as cross with them as he was with the young rivals. Interestingly enough, like said adolescents, these two adults seemed equally unwilling to stand in each other's presence, much less talk to each other. Meanwhile, Aaron cautiously climbed down from the tree he had scurried up when the free-for-all started and ran over to stand with Lily, who had stayed behind to witness the unfolding conversations involving her cousin and her father.

"Sonic, Shadow..." Eggman began, sighing in exasperation as he eyed the hedgehogs standing on either side of him, "for as long as I've been in Green Hill, all I've seen is animosity between Chaos and Control, and over the years, the problem has only gotten worse. So I told myself long ago that if I were ever elected mayor, I would do everything in my power to stop all this pointless fighting. But I've come to realize that I can't do it all alone. It has to be a unanimous effort. You two have _got_ to start taking control of your factions, before this problem gets out of hand!"

"Hey, I can handle Control just fine", said the blue hedgehog indignantly, and now his green eyes shifted from the human to lock with the red eyes of the black hedgehog. "If there are fights breaking out in Green Hill, maybe it's because Shadow can't manage his own people."

"Chaos aren't the type to start fights without grounds, Sonic", said the other leader with equal annoyance. "If anything, the real problem is your kids provoking mine first."

"My kids are never a problem. In case you didn't notice, my daughter tried to stop the fight, and my son isn't even here!"

"Maybe so, but your niece is enough of a troublemaker to give the whole youth of Control a bad name!"

"You mean about as bad a name as your nephew gives the youth of Chaos?"

"_Enough_!"

Sonic and Shadow fell silent at the mayor's order, though they continued to glare coldly at each other. Eggman sighed before speaking again.

"You see? This is exactly what I mean! Now let's talk about today. Explain to me how today's fight came to happen in the first place."

For the next several minutes, the mayor listened as the leaders of Chaos and Control tried to explain their sides of the story. They both made the valid point that they couldn't have prevented the fight themselves due to the fact that they and their wives had been in a meeting for most of the afternoon with the high school principal, who had also been hoping to find a solution to some of the problems arising on campus from the rivalry between factions. By the time Sonic and Shadow were through with their account, Principal Hornsby had already obtained enough information from Sonia and Rex to justify placing them both in detention for a week and confiscating the firecrackers Aaron had brought with him. As the principal and the P.E. teacher returned to the school with the brown bag in hand, Eggman gave his final word on the matter to the hedgehogs.

"I don't care if most of the fights these days are among the kids; it's still your job as leaders – and adults – to keep them in check. My patience has reached an end. From now on, if anything like this happens again, I will hold you both personally responsible. Understood?"

Sonic and Shadow hesitated, still focusing their icy gazes on one another, before finally turning to the mayor and replying in unison.

"Yes, sir."

And with that, Eggman turned on his heel and strode back to his vehicle, muttering under his breath as he climbed inside and drove away. The patriarchs of Chaos and Control wasted no time in walking the few feet back to their wives, who had been waiting patiently with nervous expressions on their faces. With the day's meetings officially over, the black hedgehog took the white one by the hand and proceeded to coax her away from the others.

"Let's go, Crystal", said Shadow calmly, then turned to the teenage echidna standing a short distance away. "You too, Rex. Your father will want a word with you..."

The echidna spared one last look of resentment at his rival, then followed his aunt and uncle away from the school. Sonia watched with equal indignation as Rex disappeared down the path leading to Chaos territory, until a sharp tugging at her left shirtsleeve brought her promptly back to her senses. Looking over her shoulder, the vixen saw her little brother standing just behind her, and at the sight of the unease in his blue eyes, she turned around to face him with a smile.

"I'm sorry I messed up", said the boy sadly. "Sorry the principal gave you detention and took your firecrackers away. It's my fault..."

"Hey, don't worry about it, squirt", the girl laughed, ruffling her brother's bangs in her usual playful manner. "I'm used to it by now. Besides, he didn't take them all. There's plenty more where those came from."

Aaron, however, did not smile back as he voiced his real concern to his big sister.

"Why'd you do that, Sonia? Why'd you take the blame for the prank?"

At this question, the smile faded from the teenage fox's face, and she lowered herself to one knee to gaze seriously into the preteen's eyes.

"Because I'm not letting my little brother get dragged into my battles", she said. "Now the question is: what were _you_ doing with my bombs in the first place?"

The 12-year-old hesitated to look over his sister's head at the hedgehogs standing nearby, as though to make sure they weren't listening in. Once satisfied that all three were immersed in their own conversation, he then looked back at Sonia and whispered an awkward reply.

"...I just wanted to prove I could be part of your group..."

"Aaron..." the vixen sighed in exasperation. "Is that was this was all about? We've been through this before. I told you: you're still too young. The Chaos kids are rough. You know that; you almost got yourself beaten up today!"

"But I still got them good with the firecrackers!" the young boy argued. "Come on, Sonia, I wanna be one of you guys! Please? You're so cool!"

"I said no, Aaron. Maybe when you're a little older."

The Control leader had made it clear that there was no room for discussion, but her younger brother was not about to give up just yet.

"Well, what if I told you I overheard something from the Chaos kids before I set the bombs off on them?"

At this, Sonia's interest was suddenly piqued, and a mischievous smile returned to her face.

"I'd say tell me more, and maybe I'll think about taking some time off your wait."

The preteen fox smiled at his sister's change of heart, and promptly leaned forward to whisper in her ear. The glint in the teenager's hazel eyes was clear evidence that the news was indeed very intriguing, and that she had every intention of using it to the advantage of Control.

* * *

Sonic stood some feet from the Prower siblings with his wife and his daughter, still unnerved by the discussion with the mayor. His distress was not missed by the other two hedgehogs, who wasted no time in voicing their concern as soon as the group from Chaos had left.

"What did Mayor Eggman say, honey?" asked the pink hedgehog nervously.

"Same as always, Amy", the blue hedgehog replied with a sigh of disappointment. "Except this time he made it clear that Shadow and I will both be in trouble if a public fight ever happens again."

"Dad, isn't there some way you can work things out with Shadow?" said the lilac hedgehog hopefully. "I mean, this war has been going on way too long. Isn't there any chance for peace by now?"

Lily Rose Hedgehog was one of the few open pacifists of Green Hill. Although her parents – Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose – were the leaders of the Control faction, her high intelligence had led her to draw her own conclusions about the feud years ago, and ever since, she had been very candid about her disagreement with the rivalry, a fact of which her father was well aware by now.

"I'm afraid it's not that simple, Lily", said Sonic. "Differences between people don't just get resolved overnight. Politics are a little more complicated than that."

"Especially when both parties think they're always right", his daughter added bitterly. Despite the disrespectful undertone, the blue hedgehog couldn't help but laugh.

"You really make the most of your Gift, don't you? You're just like your mother. Typical Mind class..."

"I'm sorry, Dad", said Lily sarcastically. "Would you rather I'd been born with a Speed Gift, like you and Miles?"

At the mention of that name, the girl saw the smile fade from her father's lips.

"Speaking of your brother", said Sonic, now turning his head to scan the surrounding area, "where is he? I haven't seen him all day..."

"He went out this morning", said the lilac hedgehog. "I think I saw him heading to the fields."

"He's been heading out alone an awful lot lately", said Amy thoughtfully. "I wonder if he's OK..."

Just then, the arrival of another person caught everyone's attention. An adult fox with two tails was making his way up the path from Control territory, and as he approached the younger foxes, the elder of the two siblings warily rose to her feet.

"Hi, Dad", said Sonia awkwardly as the newcomer stopped by her side and folded his arms. The disappointment in his blue eyes was only too evident.

"The principal just called me", said her father. "Said you got involved in another fight with the Echidna boy. Earned yourself _another_ week of detention?"

"But Dad, he-"

"I don't wanna hear it, Sonia! We'll talk about this at home. Let's go, now."

"Tails!"

The two-tailed fox looked up to see who had just called his name, and noticed his adopted brother waving to him from a few feet ahead.

"Hi, Sonic!" he called, waving back. The blue hedgehog spoke again.

"We'll go with you. Just hang on a minute..."

While Tails waited with his two children, Sonic turned back to his daughter to ask her one last favor.

"Lily, if you see your brother today, can you ask him how he's doing? We haven't been seeing him a lot lately. Just let him know we're worried about him, OK?"

The lilac hedgehog nodded with a warm smile. She much preferred seeing her parents showing genuine concern for their family and friends, as opposed to the hostility they normally showed their rivals.

"Sure thing, Dad. I'll go out to the fields soon. I just need to lock the study first."

Although there was no class on weekends, a select few rooms on the Emerald High campus stayed open on Saturdays for parent-teacher meetings and some activities for students, such as the study by the library to which Lily had exclusive access. Though she often used the room for her own research, its main purpose was as a quiet public space where she could offer private tutoring, an opportunity she had taken to use her Gift of high intellectual capacity to help all her fellow students, regardless of faction. The way she saw it, this impartial service was her best chance of making any progress toward a more peaceful future for Green Hill, and thus was the greatest hope she had to hold on to.

Sonic reciprocated his daughter's smile with a nod of his own, and with that, he and Amy walked away to accompany the Prower family back to Control territory and their respective homes. The lilac hedgehog watched her parents, uncle and cousins disappear down the path, then sighed and made her way back to the school alone, her mind still clouded with thoughts of the afternoon's troubling events. In truth, Lily had been planning on visiting the fields anyway, because if there was one person in town with whom she greatly wished to talk now, it was her sensible twin brother.


	2. New Hopes

Chapter 2 – New Hopes

About half an hour after parting company with her parents, Lily had fully locked the study and was now heading away from her school toward the fields lining the northern borders of Green Hill. As she closed the folds of her blue jacket against the crisp afternoon breeze, she found her thoughts beginning to drift to the person she was about to visit. With each step she took, the lilac hedgehog felt her spirits rising, and as she turned her emerald green eyes up to the partly cloudy sky, her disappointment over that eventful afternoon faded into the optimism she often felt during these visits. After all, conversations with rational people were among the few joys she knew in a town fraught with hostility, and of all the people close to her, none were more rational than her twin brother.

Several minutes after leaving Emerald High, Lily reached the open fields beyond the outskirts of town. It didn't take her long to locate the hill for which she was searching: a small mound dotted with wildflowers and topped with a single tree. Of course, it was not the hill itself she sought, but the green-eyed lavender hedgehog in a blue hoodie and jeans lying on its grassy slope and gazing up at the passing clouds. The lilac hedgehog walked up to the teenage boy with a smile and greeted him with the warmth she usually showed her loved ones.

"Hey, Miles."

At the sound of his sister's footsteps and unmistakable voice, the lavender hedgehog also smiled and glanced to his right to look up into the green eyes that matched his own.

"Hey, Lily. What's up?"

"Not much", she replied casually, "unless you count the free-for-all that broke out today. Apparently, Sonia and her friends got into another fight with Rex and the Chaos kids."

"No kidding", said Miles, turning back to resume his cloud gazing as he lay with his arms folded behind his head. "Why am I not surprised? What was it about this time?"

"From what I understood, something to do with Aaron setting off firecrackers in the middle of a Chaos meeting."

"Like the prank Sonia pulled during that game in the park last week?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"What was Aaron doing with Sonia's bombs anyway?" The boy furrowed his brow, confused. "Is he part of her group now?"

"No, I'm pretty sure he was just trying to prove himself", Lily replied, rolling her eyes. "You know how he is. He looks up to his sister, like she's the coolest person in the world."

"Yeah, I wouldn't know what that's like", Miles laughed, prompting the lilac hedgehog to playfully kick him in the foot.

"Shut up! You know I'm awesome."

It was common practice for the Hedgehog twins to tease each other, though in truth, it was more than just standard sibling behavior. They didn't treat one another as merely brother and sister; what these two had was a real friendship.

"So what are you doing out here?" said the teenage girl after a brief pause. Her twin kept his green eyes focused on the sky as he replied.

"Nothing, really. Just watching the clouds roll by."

"That's cool. Mind if I join you?"

The lavender hedgehog shrugged. "Suit yourself. Have a seat."

Lily gladly accepted the offer, kneeling on the grass a few feet from her brother. For a minute, the siblings did nothing more than quietly gaze up at the clouds, both deep in thought. Then the sister of the pair broke the silence.

"Mom and Dad asked me about you today..."

"Oh yeah? What did they say?"

"They said they haven't been seeing you very much lately, and they wanna know how you're doing."

"What makes them think _you_ would know how _I'm_ doing?" said the boy with a casual laugh. The girl replied with equal amusement.

"I don't know. Maybe they think it's a twin thing or something."

"Well, what did you say?"

"I said I would ask you when I saw you today."

"Uh-huh... And is asking how I'm doing just Dad's way of finding out why I'm not following him on all the important Control matters?"

"Come on, Miles", the lilac hedgehog sighed. "You know it's not about that. Mom and Dad are really worried about you. Besides, for what it's worth, I'm pretty sure Dad gets that we're not interested in following him yet. I mean, we only just turned 16 last month..."

"That doesn't mean he's not still waiting for us to be the kids he's always wanted", said the lavender hedgehog, and added with a faint note of resentment, "especially me."

Miles Sonic Hedgehog, like his sister, had never had any interest in the feud between Chaos and Control. Unlike Lily, however, he was not open about this fact with their parents. In Green Hill, factions were run by families, and leadership was traditionally passed down through generations. Therefore, it was to be expected that when the time came for power over Control to change hands, Sonic's children would be the first in line to carry on their faction's legacy. Unfortunately for the lavender hedgehog, his lifelong desire to please his father had placed him in the awkward position of having to feign at least a mild interest in the less-than-fascinating disputes taking place in his town, and while he had never been the type to complain, he sometimes wished he could work up the same courage his twin had already mastered to tell his parents how he really felt about their rivalry with Chaos...

"Miles, give Dad some credit! After all, there's a reason he named you after Uncle Tails and not himself."

"There's also a reason Uncle Tails named Sonia after Dad. Looks like people really do grow into their names..."

"Well, regardless", Lily continued, "Mom and Dad still wanna know if you're OK."

"Yeah, I'm OK", said Miles dispassionately, then changed the subject before his sister could gain any more insight into his present state of mind. "Hey, what do think that cloud looks like?"

The lilac hedgehog followed her brother's lifted forefinger to see a well-defined cumulus cloud floating across the sky. She narrowed her eyes to focus on it.

"I don't know..."

"I think it looks like a Chao", said the lavender hedgehog thoughtfully. "A Neutral Chao, just waiting for the day when it can evolve into a stronger form, so it can finally venture out into the world."

And now he began to point out other clouds as he noticed their unique shapes, each one with its own story.

"And that one next to it looks like a tree sapling growing its first leaves... Oh, and that one over there is shaped like a Flicky, a baby one that's only just learning how to fly... And that cloud..."

Miles paused, transfixed by the sight he had just spotted in the sky. Lily followed her brother's gaze to find a rather interesting cloud, and suddenly intrigued, she wasted little time in asking him about its strange shape.

"You mean the one that looks like two circles?"

The young boy stared silently at the cloud for a few more seconds before smiling to himself. He lowered his arm to behind his head as he gave a reply.

"Not circles", he said with a dreamy note in his voice, "rings. Two rings locked together, connected by a bond so strong, it overpowers anything they face. Nobody can separate them, no matter how hard anyone tries. No challenge is too difficult, no obstacle too great. They were meant to be connected always, to stay together, forever..."

The teenager's voice trailed off, though his eyes remained focused on the cloud for several more seconds. His sister, meanwhile, shifted her gaze from the sky to his face, her own now bearing an expression of great admiration.

"That's really deep, Miles", said the lilac hedgehog softly. "I had no idea you were so... poetic."

At this last word, the lavender hedgehog laughed and shrugged. "Well, watching the clouds go by for hours can do that to you, I guess..."

Lily smiled at her brother's casual reply, perfectly aware of the true meaning behind his innocent cloud gazing. She had an avid interest in Psychology and recognized the reflections of Miles's personality in most of the shapes he was seeing. Of course, the meaning behind the last shape was still a mystery to her... but for the time being, she decided against questioning it further.

"So that's what you've been up to these past few weeks?" she said. "Hanging out in the fields with your secretly deep thoughts?"

The boy sighed, a melancholy sound that contrasted with his lighthearted smile.

"Pretty much..."

And now Miles adopted a more serious demeanor as he started to focus more intently on the cloud shaped like two interlocking rings.

"Lily", he asked tentatively, as though already embarrassed about the question yet to fall from his lips, "do you believe in fate?"

Though he couldn't see her in his peripheral vision, the lavender hedgehog could almost sense his sister frowning and staring off into the distance, the way she often did when pondering such a philosophical question.

"I believe in people", she replied after a long pause. "As far as the idea of fate, though... no, I don't believe every detail of history is predetermined. It just seems too farfetched to think our lives are entirely out of our own control."

"OK, maybe it's not every detail", her brother agreed, "but what about the big things?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean things like... purpose. Do you think we have a point in life, or are we all just wandering around, looking for something that might not even exist?"

Another pause followed these words. As Miles was about to discover, however, his twin's silence was not indicative of contemplation, but of concern.

"Why do you ask?"

The teenage boy did not answer right away, instead remaining silent for several seconds as he watched the two-ring cloud gradually shift into a shape reminiscent of an infinity sign. He then sighed and rose to support himself on his elbows, now turning to look Lily in her emerald green eyes. By now he was only too familiar with the expression of mixed intrigue and unease on her face.

"I don't know", he said. "It's just... something I've been thinking about lately. It's no big deal."

"It's a big enough deal to keep bringing you out here all the time", said the lilac hedgehog, gesturing to the open fields stretching out to the horizon. "What's going on, Miles? You've been very... apathetic lately. Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong", the lavender hedgehog insisted, though in truth, he didn't fully believe it himself. His sister was even less convinced.

"Miles, it's me. You know you can tell me anything. I won't judge, promise."

It was true; of all the people in his life, Lily was the only one with whom Miles was ever completely open about his thoughts and feelings. Being the one person he knew besides himself who had no interest in the feud between factions, his twin sister had become his best friend, an asset that was growing increasingly valuable with each passing day of rising tension in Green Hill.

"Tell me what's on your mind."

The boy paused, still pondering whether he should tell his sister the truth, until finally his urge to unburden his feelings got the best of him. In one swift motion, Miles pushed back against the ground to rise into a sitting position and turned to fully face the lilac hedgehog.

"OK, get this", he began, excitement suddenly appearing in his green eyes. "A couple months ago, I started getting this... feeling."

"What kind of feeling?" asked Lily, raising an eyebrow. Her brother hesitated.

"...I didn't really know. It was just a feeling I'd get every now and then, but a different kind of feeling, like... nothing I'd ever felt before."

"Well, can you describe it?"

"Not really. I just know it was new, and it wasn't necessarily bad. But anyway... Then I started having this dream last week, the same dream every night. I'm standing somewhere, and I look up at the sky, and I see all these stars everywhere. And while I'm looking at them, I get the same weird feeling that's been hitting me for weeks. Then I turn to my right, and..."

"...And what?"

"And that's it. I wake up."

The lilac hedgehog considered everything her brother had just told her. In truth, however little sense it made to him, it made even less to her, and she had to satisfy her intrigue by inquiring further.

"So what do you think it means?"

At this question, Miles paused. He was fairly certain that the explanation he was about to give would provoke some skepticism in his down-to-earth sister.

"Honestly", he said, "I'm starting to think these feelings and dreams are a sign. I think that maybe... something's gonna happen, or something's _supposed_ to happen, and I just haven't figured out what it is yet. You know what I mean?"

"I think so..."

But Lily had already sported a telltale expression of confusion, and her brother sighed at this disappointing reaction.

"You think it sounds totally crazy, don't you?"

"No, no!" said the young girl hurriedly. "Not totally crazy..."

"But it doesn't make sense, right? I mean, do you get it? Between the two of us, you're the brainiac."

"Having a Mind Gift doesn't mean I know everything. Besides, my focus is Academia, not the paranormal. Trust me; everything you've told me makes about as much sense to me as it does to you."

"See? You can't figure out what my dream means either, and you're way smarter than me!"

"Well, what can I say, Miles?" said Lily, amused. "Dreamology isn't a subject they teach in school. But like I said: I believe we make our own destinies. So in my opinion, if you think your dreams are trying to tell you something, then it's up to you to go find the answer yourself."

The brother of the pair turned away from his sister to gaze out toward the horizon, carefully considering her words. Yes, what she said did make sense. This strange feeling had been bothering him for way too long already, and he didn't want to waste any more time wondering about it without getting the answers he deserved.

"Fair enough", he agreed, a lighthearted smile returning to his features.

The twins sat in silence for another minute, enjoying the ambience of the beautiful view and the pleasant breeze as they pondered the mystery of the dream. Then the lilac hedgehog spoke again.

"Come on, let's get out of here." She rose to her feet and took a step toward her brother. "Maybe taking a walk will help clear your head."

Miles agreed, and gladly accepted Lily's hand to help him to his feet. The two then set off together away from the fields and back to the village they called home.

Several minutes later, the Hedgehog twins were strolling into Control territory, now discussing the events of the day. As they walked down the path leading toward their house, however, their conversation about the afternoon fight was suddenly interrupted by a female voice sounding above their heads.

"Were you guys just talking about me?"

Miles and Lily stopped in their tracks and looked to their right to see their cousin sitting casually on a branch some feet up a tree. Sonia's mischievous grin was clearly visible as she looked back down at the twins, and she raised her brow as the lilac hedgehog greeted her.

"I was just telling Miles about what happened today. You know, with you and Rex."

"Did you tell him how it started when that echidna jerk threatened to rough up my little brother?"

"Yes", said Lily critically, "after he got caught imitating a prank that he learned from _you_."

"Don't be so condescending, cousin", said the vixen. "You're always so serious. Learn to have some fun!"

"I prefer to have fun that doesn't come at the expense of others, thank you", said the lilac hedgehog. "And what are you doing out here anyway? Shouldn't your dad have grounded you by now?"

"Yeah, he gave me the worst punishment ever", Sonia sighed. "Banned me from his workshop 'til I'm 16! Can you believe it?!"

The teenage boy rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, your birthday's next month! Don't be so dramatic."

"Well, whatever!" the fox shouted. "It's still a month without Dad's planes! But hey, at least I still get to go out. Guess he's saving that sentence for 'next time'."

"That seems fair", said the lavender hedgehog. "It's only the first half of September; the school year's barely started. Now's the crucial time to rebuild social circles..."

To the Hedgehog twins, their uncle's chosen punishment for their cousin made perfect sense. Miles "Tails" Prower was a renowned aeronautical engineer, and given that both his Gift and his passion for flight had been passed on to his daughter, it was only logical that her favorite pastime – next to harassing her Chaos rivals – was to accompany her father in his work. This hobby was the second most precious thing that could be taken away from her, losing only to her Gift itself.

"Anyway", Lily continued, "we were actually focused on Miles earlier. He was telling me why he's been so distant lately."

"Really?" Sonia tilted her head in curiosity as she faced her other cousin. "What's going on, Miles?"

At the fox's question, Miles instinctively hesitated. There were few people with whom he cared to share his deeper thoughts, and his cousin wasn't one of them.

"It's nothing. You wouldn't care."

"What makes you think I wouldn't care?" And now Sonia put on a show of exaggerated emotion, placing a hand over her heart as she choked back a phony sob. "My own cousin thinks I don't care about his wellbeing? You think I wouldn't understand if you told me why you're feeling blue? You really think I'm that self-centered?"

The hedgehogs exchanged glances of exasperation, then rolled their eyes and simultaneously called up to the two-tailed vixen the same phrase they'd been saying to her for years.

"Shut up, Sonia."

The fox returned to her confident manner with a playful laugh. She then took to spinning her twin tails and floated gently down from the tree to land before her cousins. She locked her gaze with the boy's and spoke again in a meaningful tone.

"Seriously, Miles, have you really been feeling down lately?"

The lavender hedgehog gazed back into the vixen's hazel eyes. Once satisfied that the concern in them was genuine, he sighed.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that..."

"Then I have some good news", said Sonia with a broadening smile.

"Yeah?" said Lily, intrigued at the possibility of anything that might cheer her brother up. "What is it?"

"I'll tell you..." the fox replied, glancing between the hedgehogs, "but first, you both have to say how awesome I am, and thank me for being the best cousin ever."

"Then forget it", said Miles curtly, and moved forth to walk past the vixen and back to his house.

"OK, OK, I'm kidding!" Sonia laughed, grabbing her cousin by the shoulder and gently pushing him back. "I'll tell you anyway, just 'cause I'm that cool."

"Just tell us already!" Lily begged, amused despite her frustration. Sonia spared one last smirk at the twins before finally obliging.

"I heard from a very reliable source today that there's gonna be a party in Green Hill tonight. It's gonna be on neutral ground, at the clubhouse east of Emerald High, and it's open to the public youth. You guys wanna go?"

The siblings glanced at each other again as they considered their cousin's proposal. The idea seemed to fill the sister of the pair with optimism, and she offered her brother a shrug and a hopeful smile.

"What do you think, Miles? Sounds like fun! Maybe it's just what you need to help you figure things out."

"It's exactly what you need", the two-tailed vixen said, focusing on the lavender hedgehog. "If you're feeling down, there's nothing like a party to cheer you up."

Miles glanced between Lily and Sonia, trying to come to a decision. In truth, he wasn't really the partying type, but the girls' good intentions and meaningful gazes were hard to refuse, and soon enough, he found himself reluctantly agreeing.

"Fine, count me in", he sighed in defeat, a smile brightening his face despite his uncertainty. His sister and his cousin were pleased.

"Great!" the fox exclaimed, clapping her hands in excitement. "Let's go get ready, then! The sun's already setting!"

And with that, the three friends headed off together to their respective homes, now looking forward to a fun-filled night, especially – to his surprise – the boy.

Miles had yet to discover the consequences of his decision. He couldn't possibly have known exactly what was in store for him that night, nor the incredible impact it would have on his future. No, all he was meant to know for now was that his friends were taking him to a party, and he was going to have the time of his life.

* * *

On the east side of Green Hill, somewhere on Chaos ground, Rex Echidna walked down the path leading to the most important house in his faction's territory. Walking beside him, in as bitter a mood as his friend, was the echidna's right-hand man: the purple cat who had started the fray that afternoon. The two of them were engaged in a heated argument, and the closer they came to the house down the road, the further they seemed to be from reaching an agreement.

"I'm telling you, Rex", said Eugene angrily, "the little whelp was guilty! I don't care if he's just his sister's puppet; he still hurt us with those bombs, and he deserved to pay! I wanted justice!"

"You acted out of rage", said the Chaos leader just as heatedly. "That's not justice; that's revenge. I said he could go. He wasn't worth the trouble of starting another fight with Control."

"I know, but-"

"No 'buts', Eugene!" Rex shouted. "It should have been over when I said so! You completely undermined me, and worse, you did it in front of Sonia Prower!"

"OK, I'm sorry!" the purple cat yelled. "But you're the leader! I just thought you would give the kid what was coming to him!"

"Part of being a leader is knowing how to pick your battles", said the red echidna. "If Sonia's the one we really want, we let her victory for her brother slide and then wait to catch her off guard later. Basic tactics."

The pair reached the end of the path, stopping before a large two-story house. Rex turned to his friend and spoke again in a calmer tone of voice.

"We'll talk about this later. Go home, Eugene. I'll catch you at the party tonight."

"About that..." said the cat, "you remember what I asked you, right?"

"Yeah, I'll talk to her, don't worry. Now go get ready. We'll see you later."

Eugene gave a curt nod, then turned and walked away down another path, muttering under his breath. The echidna sighed in exasperation before approaching the house and ringing the doorbell. A minute later, he was stepping over the threshold at the invitation of the black hedgehog who had opened the door.

"So, Rex", said Shadow coolly as he closed the door, "was your dad hard on you about the fight today?"

"I guess", the teenager replied, embarrassed as he looked into the red eyes that perfectly matched the highlights in their owner's quills. "He says he won't give me any more martial arts training until next month."

"That's too bad", said the black hedgehog sympathetically, understanding how harsh his adopted brother's punishment must have seemed to his nephew. "But at least he's still letting you go to the party tonight."

The Chaos patriarch then pointed toward the staircase across the main hall.

"The girls are upstairs, by the way. They're just finishing getting ready."

"Thanks, Uncle Shadow", said Rex with a smile, and with that, the teenage boy turned and headed up the stairs to the second floor. He knocked sharply on a door down the hall, then opened it after a voice called out from the other side.

The next sight to meet the echidna's blue eyes was the most cheerful he had seen all day. He had just walked into a bedroom, decorated in neutral colors and furnished with a full-size bed, well-stocked bookshelves and a single vanity dresser. Standing before a full-length mirror beside the vanity were two teenage girls, one of whom was currently helping the other with her dress.

At the sound of the door opening, the girls turned to see the new arrival gazing back at them with a warm smile. As he stepped inside and closed the door behind him, the elder of the girls – a faint gray bat with baby blue eyes – broke into a grin and ran over to the boy to throw her arms around him and kiss him on the cheek, a gesture that he happily accepted. After all, it was exactly the kind of affection he enjoyed receiving from his girlfriend.

"Hi, Rex!" The bat took a step back to give him a quick once-over. "Looking good!"

Rex glanced down at his black jacket and pants before looking back up at the girl.

"Thanks, Angelica", he laughed, and indicated the short red dress she was wearing. "You look amazing!"

The echidna then looked past his girlfriend at the person still standing by the mirror. She was a light gray hedgehog, with dark blue eyes and faded red highlights in her quills. In contrast to her friend's flashy outfit, this girl was wearing a much simpler dress, which was long and entirely white, save for the black trim on its shoulders, waist and hemline. As she smiled back at him, the boy greeted her warmly.

"Hi, Maria."

"Hi, Rex", the hedgehog replied. "Angie was just helping me with fitting."

"Doesn't she look pretty?" said Angelica happily. The red echidna nodded.

"Very pretty", he agreed, then smiled slyly at his girlfriend. "Of course, she does have some tough competition..."

The faint gray bat laughed and leaned forward to kiss her boyfriend again, this time on the lips. Maria sighed as she faced the mirror again.

"You guys are so cute", she said, and added longingly, "Sometimes I wish I knew how you felt..."

"Funny you should say that", said Rex, turning back to the light gray hedgehog as he put his arm around his girlfriend. "I actually have a friend who's interested to meet you."

"Really?" Maria faced the echidna again, her interest piqued. "Who is he?"

"He'll be at the party tonight. I can introduce you, if you want."

The hedgehog paused to consider the suggestion, then nodded in agreement.

"Sure. I look forward to it."

"Hey, how cool would that be, if you two hit it off?" Angelica chimed in, suddenly excited. "Then the four of us could hang out all the time after you start school!"

"Angie, I haven't even met him yet!" Maria laughed. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Besides, the whole reason my dad's finally letting me go to school is so I can find my Calling, not a boyfriend."

"Does that mean Shadow's not gonna let you date until you find it?" said the bat skeptically. The light gray hedgehog faced the mirror again, her thoughts drifting to her unique situation.

"I don't know about that", she replied, watching her reflection's smile fade. "All I know is I've gone too long without knowing what it is."

Maria Geraldine Hedgehog was not an ordinary girl. Being the daughter of the leaders of Chaos – Shadow the Hedgehog and Crystal Hedgehog – she had thus far lived what could only be described as a very sheltered life. Her father was especially protective of her, which was why, for as long as she could remember, she had been homeschooled and had never left the Chaos territory of Green Hill. Unfortunately, her parents now had reason to believe that this lifestyle might have had an unexpected negative influence on their daughter...

While most people of the Chaos faction discovered their Calling by the time they were 15 years old, Maria was already almost half a year into being 16 and still had no clue what hers was. The only explanation that Shadow and Crystal could think of was the social contact their daughter was missing due to her educational circumstances and general shyness, with the exception of her close friendship with the children of her father's two right-hands: Knuckles the Echidna and Rouge the Bat. After careful consideration, the Chaos leaders had decided that Maria would be allowed to attend the local high school from the first weeks of the next academic year, in the hopes that the new environment would provide her with the stimulation she needed to finally unlock her Calling. The one condition her parents had established was that she start her first school year on the right foot by only forming ties with people affiliated with her own faction, which was why they had decided to throw a party for her on the Saturday before her first day at Emerald High, to which only those associated with Chaos would be invited.

"I bet it's in the Mind class", said Angelica thoughtfully, snapping the hedgehog back to reality. "I mean, both your parents have Mind Callings. You must have gotten yours from one of them."

"Like it was with you two?" said Maria, turning back to her friends with a smile. It was common knowledge that Rex had taken after his father, a disciplined and formidable fighter; while Angelica had inherited the Flight Calling mastered by her mother in her former days of spying and thieving, which came with a focus in stealth.

"Yeah", the bat continued. "Maybe you can warp like your dad! Or maybe you're psychic like your mom!"

"I doubt it", the younger girl sighed. "I've already tried using my dad's Chaos Emerald to warp, but it's never worked. And my mom's Calling is out of her control; her visions come randomly. If I were psychic like her, I think I would know by now."

The head households of Chaos and Control each had one of a pair of special gemstones known as Chaos Emeralds. These stones were channels of a powerful energy that was thought to grant citizens of Green Hill their special abilities. It was not unheard of, therefore, for teenagers to go directly to these sources of power to discover their abilities when they were of the right age, especially when they already lived in a house where an Emerald was kept.

"Well, maybe it's totally different from your parents'", the echidna suggested, "something you won't discover until after you start school."

Maria nodded. "Maybe..."

Just then, there was a sharp knock at the door. The three friends turned in unison to face the doorway, and the young hedgehog called out her permission for the person in the hall to enter. The door opened to reveal two adult hedgehogs – one black and one white – both dressed in formal attire. As Maria smiled warmly at her parents, Shadow casually addressed the teenagers.

"You kids ready to go?"

"Almost", his daughter replied. "Angie just needs to help me with makeup."

"Before that", said Crystal, "we'd like to talk to you for a moment in private, Maria."

The light gray hedgehog nodded, and her friends stepped out of the room to give the family some privacy. As the exiting teenagers closed the door behind them, the white hedgehog took a seat on the bed and beckoned her daughter over.

"Maria", Crystal began as the 16-year-old girl sat down beside her, "your father and I were talking, and we had an idea that we wanted to run by you."

"OK..." said Maria curiously, gazing deeply into her mother's blue eyes for a hint.

"We know you don't want us to make a big deal about you starting school. That's why we haven't been telling anyone that the party tonight is really for you. However, your father and I were just talking about how proud we are of you, so we wanted to ask you... if you wouldn't mind letting him announce you at the end of the night."

Maria looked up at the black hedgehog standing beside his wife. By the hopeful look in his red eyes, the young girl could tell just how much it would mean to her father to present her at the party. Since her earliest memories, he had always made it clear that his daughter was the pride and joy of his life, and he loved her more than anything in the world.

"What do you say, princess?" said Shadow. His smile was so kind that Maria couldn't resist returning it.

"Of course, Daddy", she replied warmly, content to abide by her parents' wishes. Both adults grinned.

"All right", Crystal said happily. "We'll look for you around the end of the party, then. Now you can finish getting ready."

With their conversation at an end, the light gray hedgehog accepted a kiss on the cheek from each of her parents. A minute later, they had stepped out of the room to be replaced by her best friend, who was ready complete her task.

"Can I do your makeup now?" said Angelica eagerly the second they were alone again.

Maria agreed, but added that her friend was not to exaggerate, for she only wanted to look presentable enough for the party while still maintaining a natural appearance. As she grabbed her box of cosmetics from the dresser, the bat assured the hedgehog that she knew exactly what she was doing, and promised to make her look beautiful without dishonoring her request. A lifetime of friendship had taught Angelica that Maria was not the type of girl who cared to dress up and go out, and she had every intention of respecting the introverted personality to which she had grown so close over the years. Acceptance was an important part of being a best friend.

The faint gray bat took a seat beside her friend and opened the case. She told the light gray hedgehog to close her eyes as she proceeded to extract some eyeshadow and a small brush from her box.

"Something a little darker", Angelica said casually, lightly coating the brush with gray powder, "to complement your blue eyes."

"Nothing too bold, right?" said Maria nervously. Her friend was quick to reassure her as she began applying the eyeshadow.

"Don't worry, neutral colors are perfectly subtle", she said calmly, and added with a sly note, "Besides, I hardly think you'll need any help getting attention."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're already beautiful as it is, plus you're the next in line to take over Chaos. Trust me, Maria; by the end of the night, you'll have a ton of guys in the palm of your hand."

The bat finished applying the eyeshadow and returned the powder to the box to switch it for blush. The hedgehog opened her eyes with a dispassionate sigh.

"That's just it: I don't want a ton of guys in the palm of my hand, especially for my looks or my heritage."

"Well, what do you expect?" said Angelica casually as she lightly stroked the powdered brush over her friend's cheeks. "You were born into one of the most powerful families in Green Hill. There's no running away from that."

"I know", Maria said, and looked down in disappointment. "I just don't want people to always see me for where I come from. I don't wanna be just a name for the rest of my life."

"Yeah, I get that. But hey, look on the bright side: someday you'll be in charge of Chaos, and then people will know you for what a great leader you are."

The light gray hedgehog hesitated at the bat's less-than-encouraging words, then looked back up at her after working up the courage to voice a delicate question.

"Angie... why do you love Rex?"

Angelica paused and shifted her gaze to Maria's dark blue eyes, surprise evident in her own baby blue ones. After a few quiet seconds, she smiled.

"Because... he's good to me. He's strong and protective and loyal. He tells me I'm beautiful, and he makes me feel safe. Rex is the kind of guy who looks out for the people he cares about. So when he takes care of me the way he does, I know it means he loves me too. I mean, what girl wouldn't want a boyfriend who takes care of her, right?"

The hedgehog smiled at her best friend's heartfelt answer. The bat continued with a follow-up question.

"Why do you ask?"

"No reason", Maria replied innocently. "It's just... something that's been on my mind."

Angelica raised an eyebrow at her friend, suddenly intrigued.

"What? Do you want a boyfriend too?"

"No, it's not that", said the hedgehog with a soft laugh. "I was just wondering... Are you happy?"

Maria asked the question in a more serious tone than usual, and now Angelica felt her curiosity mixing with concern.

"Yeah, I am..."

"Because you already have everything you need to be happy right here, right?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... do you ever think about what else could be out there? You know, outside Green Hill?"

"Maria, where is this coming from?"

The faint gray bat couldn't hide the unease in her voice, and the hedgehog breathed another heavy sigh.

"It's nothing. I'm sorry, Angie..."

"Don't be sorry", said Angelica with a sympathetic smile. "You can talk to me. What's going on?"

With a smile of gratitude, Maria gestured for her friend to continue applying her makeup while she explained.

"OK, last night, for some reason, I was having trouble sleeping. So I went out on my balcony, and I looked up at the sky to gaze at the stars for a while. And while I was gazing at them, I started getting this feeling, like... some kind of longing."

"Longing? For what?"

"I don't know... Maybe for the life I could know if I ever left Green Hill. But it wasn't just that. I also got this idea that maybe... something exciting might happen to me really soon, something that could change my life, if I'm willing to go looking for it, you know?"

"So what do you make of it?"

"That's a good question. I just know it's not the first time I've had these feelings, but they were definitely stronger than ever last night. I'm more than ready to find out what they mean."

"Hey!" Angelica exclaimed as she switched the blush for mascara. "What if it's Rex's friend who wants to meet you tonight?"

"You think it could be?" said the hedgehog, intrigued.

"Sure! Who knows? Maybe this whole time, your feelings were about a boy you're supposed to meet!"

Maria was not convinced, never having been the type to spend much time daydreaming about boys, but she humored her best friend nonetheless.

"Yeah, maybe..."

The young bat finished her task and stashed the makeup in her case. She then took the light gray hedgehog by the hand and led her over to the standing mirror.

"Well, whatever it is, there's one thing I'm sure of, Maria..."

And now Angelica stood her friend before the mirror, placing a hand gently under her chin as she smiled warmly.

"...if what you're looking for is at the party tonight, it's as good as yours."

Maria gazed at her reflection in awe, suddenly speechless. The girl looking back at her was very different from the person who normally occupied the frame, and the young hedgehog found this to be a pleasant surprise. It was the first time she had ever felt so beautiful, a fact made evident when she suddenly cried out in excitement and whirled around to wrap her arms tightly around her best friend.

"Thank you, Angie!" she exclaimed. "You're the best!"

The faint gray bat laughed heartily as she returned her friend's hug. A moment later, a sharp knock at the door prompted both girls to release each other and face the opening doorway to see Maria's father gazing back at them. He was quick to compliment his daughter on her stunning appearance, and she responded by giving credit to her friend's skillful work. The black hedgehog then asked the girls if they were ready to go, and once they had confirmed that they were, he beckoned them out into the hall to join the group about to leave. As Shadow stepped out of the room again, the older girl spared a sly smile and a wink at the younger one.

"Ready to break some hearts?"

The light gray hedgehog grinned and nodded in excitement. "Let's go."

Angelica's smile broadened into an equally bright grin, and with that, she walked through the doorway to join the others waiting outside. Now alone in her room, the young hedgehog paused to look behind her through the single window, where she could see the darkening sky just beginning to shine with the first stars of the night, the stars that filled her with hopeful dreams and kept her believing in the promise of a better tomorrow.

Maria gazed quietly at the sky for a moment, sensing yet again the familiar mysterious feeling it brought to her heart... then, with a soft smile, she turned and followed her friend out the door, innocently unaware just how close she was to finding the answers to her questions, and just how wonderful she would remember this night to be for the rest of her life.


	3. At First Sight

Chapter 3 – At First Sight

As the last rays of sunlight vanished from the sky and a full moon appeared over Green Hill, the group of five that had left the head household of Chaos arrived at the clubhouse just outside their faction's territory, where people were already beginning to flock through the double entrance doors. Upon making their way inside, the two adults and three teenagers found themselves in a large hall decorated with colored banners and furnished with several covered tables and chairs. Longer tables holding food and beverages lined the walls close to the entrance, and on the opposite end of the room was a stage, upon which a brown raccoon and his DJ equipment were stationed and in front of which was an open space that would serve as the dance floor. Along the walls near the stage were a few small alcoves and a side door that led to an outside area.

Half a minute after walking through the front doors, the group was approached by three adults: a white bat and an echidna couple. Catching sight of them, Shadow smiled coolly and stepped forward to greet his friends.

"Hello, Knuckles", said the black hedgehog as he extended a hand to shake the red echidna's, then did the same with the two women standing on either side of him. "Rouge, Tikal."

"Hi, Shadow", said Knuckles with a casual smile, and indicated the hall behind him. "So, what do you think?"

"Everything looks great", said the Chaos leader, scanning the room with a satisfied look in his eyes. His family and his daughter's friends nodded in agreement.

"What do you think of the colors?" asked the white bat with a sly smile. Shadow laughed.

"They're perfect, Rouge", he replied, and added sarcastically, "How ever did you decide on red and black?"

Indeed, most of the decorations in the hall were either one of those two colors, and the reason for this was common knowledge to everyone in the room, just as it was to everyone in Green Hill.

"Of course!" the bat laughed. "How can you throw a Chaos party and _not_ use the colors of Chaos in the decor?"

"Well, as long as it's not blue and white, it's fine", said the black hedgehog, cringing at the thought of his own daughter's party being decorated in the colors of Control.

"You kids look wonderful!" said the red-orange echidna to the three adolescents.

"Thanks, Mom", said Rex with a smile as the two girls nodded in gratitude.

Shadow directed the teenagers to the party hall, suggesting they make their way inside. Angelica quickly grabbed Maria by the hand and urged her forth with a grin.

"Let's go!"

The three friends stepped past their parents and into the crowding hall, the teenage echidna taking the lead to search for the others from his group. The five adults, meanwhile, stayed close to the entrance to continue their conversation.

"Thanks for letting Rex attend the party", said Shadow to the Echidnas. The husband of the couple shrugged with a sympathetic smile.

"Hey, Tikal and I know how important this is to you and your family", said Knuckles. "Trust me, we wouldn't be letting him out of the house tonight for anything else."

"Is it just me, or has he been fighting with the Prower girl a lot more lately?" said his wife. The white bat spoke up before the others could reply.

"All the Control kids are trouble, Tikal. That girl is just the worst of the bunch, so naturally she's starting most of the fights. From what my daughter tells me, she's obnoxious and a little cocky, and her ego's been getting bigger by the year. If you ask me, Rex is right to stand up to her for the Chaos kids. Someone needs to put her in her place."

While the red-orange echidna did not agree with Rouge's less-than-pacifistic opinion, she was curious about her son's rivalry with the two-tailed vixen.

"So what is it that makes her more arrogant than the others?" Tikal asked, intrigue now mixing with the concern in her blue eyes. This time, her husband was the one to answer.

"Must be her ability. Flight is the rarest class, after all. Stands to reason that someone who can fly would consider herself a cut above the rest. Right, Rouge?"

At Knuckles's sly sideways glance, the white bat folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. She was not amused.

"Hey, I've always used my Calling productively, and Angelica almost never uses hers. The Prower girl, on the other hand, shows hers off every chance she gets. It's typical Control behavior."

"All right", said the black hedgehog before the conversation could progress any further into an unpleasant topic. "We don't have to worry about Control right now. Let's just focus on keeping an eye on the kids and making sure they have a good time tonight. Can we do that?"

The others agreed, and on that note, the adults followed their children into the crowd just as the lights began to dim and music filled the room, all of them looking forward to a pleasant and eventful evening.

* * *

Miles, Lily and Sonia made their way up the path to the clubhouse, the hedgehogs following the fox's lead as they strode casually in the moonlight. When the building's lit windows came into view and the music playing inside reached their ears, however, the vixen suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned to her cousins with an expression of unease on her face.

"Um, before we go in..." she said anxiously, "I think we should agree on some kind of signal, in case we need to... bail each other out."

At this suggestion, the twins exchanged nervous glances.

"Out of what?" asked Lily, raising an eyebrow. She could have sworn she noticed her cousin shift her feet.

"Well, you know how parties can be", said Sonia awkwardly. "If one of us gets stuck in an... uncomfortable situation, it might be a good idea to signal each other for help."

"And what kind of help would we need?" said Miles tentatively.

"I don't know yet", the two-tailed fox sighed, "but it's just to be safe. We probably won't need them anyway. Just... humor me, OK?"

After a brief discussion, the three friends agreed on a subtle tugging on the left ear as their secret signal. Once the issue was settled, the group then continued on their way to the clubhouse. Just before reaching the front steps, however, the lavender hedgehog stopped again, cueing the girls beside him to follow suit.

"What's wrong, Miles?" said the lilac hedgehog, concerned. Her brother hesitated, as though to confirm a suspicion.

"I just got that feeling again", he said as he stared at the building's entrance.

"The one from your dreams?" said Lily, suddenly intrigued.

"Yeah... but it's making me really nervous. I don't know about this..."

"Oh, come on!" the vixen exclaimed, and stepped behind her cousins to nudge them toward the double doors. "Don't flake out on me now! Trust me, this'll be worth it. You're gonna have the best time tonight!"

They couldn't have known what they were about to get into. They had no idea of the risk they were taking just by walking through the front doors. There was no way any of them could have predicted the life-changing sequence of events about to be set off by an act as innocent as attending a party, an act expected of teenagers just looking to have some fun. No, the Hedgehog twins were not aware of the true danger into which their cousin was leading them... until they stepped into the hall and took in their surroundings. Their hearts sank at the first sight of the room's decorations, for the scene they were looking at now was not at all as they had anticipated...

Visible on every banner hung along the walls, cloth covering every chair and table, and over half the outfits sported by the crowd of partygoers, were the very prominent colors of red and black. This could only mean one thing...

"You brought us to a Chaos party?!"

Miles was furious. Words couldn't describe the anger now overtaking him, and as the realization of Sonia's true intentions hit him, he and his sister turned around to face her with mixed shock and rage in their green eyes. They couldn't recall ever feeling so played before.

"You sneak!" Lily shrieked in disbelief, perfectly audible in the entrance area isolated from the noise in the main hall. The two-tailed vixen did a poor job of holding back her sly smile.

"Oh, did I forget to mention?"

The lavender hedgehog slowly stepped toward the fox while raising his hands in a way that suggested it was all he could do to keep from strangling her. Sonia quickly backed against the wall, raising her hands in surrender with a hearty laugh.

"OK, OK!" she cried, prompting Miles to pause. "I'm sorry. But seriously, if I had told you before, would you guys have come to this party with me?"

"Of course not!" exclaimed the lilac hedgehog, keeping her voice as low as possible while more new arrivals walked past them. "We're not suicidal!"

"So that signal you wanted is in case one of us gets caught party crashing, right?" said the brother of the siblings, folding his arms. "Is that also why you insisted I wear the black jacket tonight?"

"First of all", said the vixen calmly, "it's not a Chaos party, per se. It's actually a party for anyone who's not close with Control."

"Which is us", said the lavender hedgehog. "Or do the leaders' kids and the daughter of the second-in-command not count?"

"Second", Sonia continued, ignoring her cousin's sarcasm, "since not everyone here is from Chaos, the odds of us getting caught aren't that high."

"But what if someone recognizes us?" said Lily nervously. "As far as Rex and his friends are concerned, you're practically a wanted criminal!"

At this comment, however, the fox's mischievous smile only widened.

"Third, even if someone from Chaos does catch us, they can't do anything about it. This party is in a rented space on public property, and the invitations were spread by word of mouth. That means there's no official guest list saying we can't be here. If anyone from Chaos tries to confront us, they'll be the ones who get in trouble."

The hedgehogs glared at their cousin for another minute, until the sister of the pair spoke again in a whisper that betrayed the faintest hint of admiration behind her indignation.

"You're unbelievable, Sonia..."

The vixen bowed her head proudly. Miles then took his turn to speak again.

"Well, whatever scheme you're hatching against Chaos this time, I refuse to be a part of it. Have a nice night."

The lavender hedgehog moved toward the front doors, but was stopped abruptly in his tracks when his cousin suddenly grabbed him by the arm. In seconds, he found himself looking into a pair of hazel eyes that, to his surprise, had lost all their usual overconfidence.

"Wait, Miles, just listen. I'm sorry for tricking you into coming here, I really am. I know this looks like another plot to mess with Chaos, but the truth is... that's really a bonus. I brought you here 'cause you said you were feeling down, and I thought going to a party might cheer you up. Come on, we're already here. Why not have some fun?"

The teenage boy paused to consider Sonia's suggestion. Looking over his shoulder at the main hall, he saw that the partygoers seemed to be enjoying themselves, and few of their faces were even discernable in the dim lighting of the central floor. After a minute, Miles sighed and turned back to face the two-tailed fox again.

"Fine", he said dispassionately, "I'll stay. But if anyone from Chaos corners Lily or me tonight, I promise you I will make your head spin. You're gonna wish Rex killed you when he had the chance."

"Deal", Sonia laughed, and with that, she stepped past the hedgehogs and into the party. The twins watched their cousin disappear into the crowd, expressions of exasperation on both their faces.

"I swear, Lily", Miles muttered, "one of these days, I'm gonna kill her."

The lilac hedgehog smiled in amusement at this plausible threat before turning to her right to face her brother.

"She's right, though", Lily said with a shrug, prompting the lavender hedgehog to face her. "We're already here; we might as well try to have a good time tonight. Who knows? Maybe we'll be lucky enough to get through the night without being caught."

At his sister's encouraging words, Miles couldn't help but smile.

"So what's your game plan?" he asked. The lilac hedgehog indicated the long tables behind her.

"I think I should hang around here. Dancing's just not my thing. At least if I stay in the shade, my dress might look more black than navy blue."

"Good call", her brother laughed, then gestured toward the columns close to the walls in the main hall. "We should probably split up, so people won't recognize us. I'll be around there, trying to stay out of sight. Signal if you need me."

"Will do", said Lily, and on that note, Miles made his way into the hall, his twin watching him with a hopeful smile before retreating into the safety of the shadows.

* * *

Maria stood at a table outside the dance floor, engaged in conversation with Angelica and the rest of the girls from the school cheerleading squad. The main topic was the light gray hedgehog finally starting at Emerald High, though it didn't take long for a subject from earlier that evening to come up again.

"So", said the faint gray bat slyly, "you excited about meeting Rex's friend tonight?"

At this question, Maria timidly looked down at her feet.

"I don't know. I guess..."

"You guess?" Angelica raised an eyebrow as her friend looked up again.

"Well, what can I say, Angie?" said the hedgehog with a shrug. "I've never been introduced to a boy before, especially one who says he likes me."

"All the more reason to be looking forward to this!" said the bat. Maria rolled her eyes and laughed.

Just then, two boys approached their table. At the sight of the red echidna, Angelica quickly grabbed her friend's hand and led her away from the group, meeting the boys just outside one of the room's various alcoves. After isolating themselves from the hall's noise inside this niche, Rex greeted the girls and introduced the light gray hedgehog to the purple cat beside him.

"Maria, this is Eugene Princeton, my right-hand and one of my closest friends. Eugene, this is my cousin, Maria Hedgehog."

"Nice to finally meet you, Maria", said the cat, extending his hand to take the hedgehog's. "Rex has told me a lot about you."

"Nice to meet you too, Eugene", the girl replied, the politeness in her voice concealing the apprehension she felt at the boy's presumption.

"Eugene's been wanting to meet you ever since he saw you with us at that art showing a few weeks ago", said the echidna. "When I told him you'd be starting school soon, he asked me to introduce him to you at the party."

"Really?" said Maria, her dark blue eyes focused on the cat's icy gray ones. "You like art, Eugene?"

"Not really", he admitted unapologetically. "My dad owns the private gallery on Chaos ground, and he likes when I tag along on some of his business ventures, so I can learn the ropes. Not that it'll be too hard, of course; business savvy is kind of in the Princeton blood."

The light gray hedgehog nodded once with a kind smile, but didn't say anything. As it happened, the purple cat didn't need more incentive than that to keep talking.

"Well, turns out one of the days I decided to go with him was when the head family and the right-hands of Chaos were there for a private showing. That's when I saw a girl I'd never seen before, walking with my friend and his girlfriend. I couldn't go and talk to you guys while I was working with my dad, but I did notice that this new girl was very... attractive. Then when I asked Rex about her the next day, I found out she was the heiress of Chaos! So you can imagine I was eager to meet her after that."

Eugene, who had been glancing at all three friends, now stopped his gaze on Maria with a sly glint in his eyes. The hedgehog maintained her smile, speaking coolly to the cat in a tone that didn't betray her true feelings about his impertinence.

"How charming..."

For the next several minutes, the group of four engaged in a conversation intended to better acquaint Maria and Eugene. A large part of this, however, seemed to be centered on the cat, who thus far had shown more interest in impressing the hedgehog with trivial details about himself than learning about her. Just as Maria was ready to give in to her boredom and excuse herself, however, an intriguing subject came up: the free-for-all that had broken out earlier that day.

"So Rex decides to let her and her brother go!" Now explaining his side of the story after the group leader had given his own account, Eugene rolled up his sleeve to show the others the bruise on his elbow. "But that doesn't sit well with me. So the next thing I know, I'm chucking a rock past the little brat as hard as I can, which is pretty hard when your Calling is in Speed. I swear, if that rock had hit him, he would have been sorry for pulling that prank on us. But the best part was seeing the look on their faces. Totally worth it."

The cat laughed as though expecting praise from the others. While the echidna rolled his eyes and the bat giggled, however, the light gray hedgehog showed an entirely different reaction.

"Why?"

Rex, Angelica and Eugene turned in unison to face Maria, surprised to hear this question coming from the person who so far had spoken the least. The purple cat raised an eyebrow at the hedgehog.

"What do you mean, why?"

"Why was it worth seeing the look on their faces if you ended up getting more hurt than before?"

Eugene seemed to be taken aback, as though he felt he were being challenged, but he answered nonetheless.

"Because the kid deserved to be punished!" he said as if this were obvious. "I was trying to get justice against Control!"

"By throwing a rock at a 12-year-old boy?"

Maria's face held a poised expression of interest, but her close friends could see her inner spirit beginning to shine through her eyes, and they started glancing between the hedgehog and the cat with nervous looks on their faces.

"I don't care how old he is! He still burned us with those bombs, so he should pay!"

"But I thought Rex just said those firecrackers weren't his. His sister even admitted that the whole thing was _her_ idea. If anyone should be punished, shouldn't it be Sonia Prower?"

The red echidna smiled gratefully at his cousin, who glanced at him to return the gesture. Eugene continued in a tone that failed to mask his growing frustration.

"Everyone from Control deserves to be taken down, Maria. They're all bigheaded lowlifes on some level."

"All of them? Even the kids?"

"Meaning what?"

"Nothing", said the light gray hedgehog innocently. "I just find it hard to believe that a child who's barely started living his life can already have it labeled as 'low'."

"So what are you saying?" said the purple cat. "You think he should walk?"

"I think children are too young to have a full identity of their own yet. He probably didn't have mean intentions. It's more likely that he was just trying to live up to an image set by someone he admires."

"Like his older sister?" said Rex.

"Exactly", said Maria. "So if she should be held accountable for anything, I say it's for setting a bad example for her brother. Any way you look at it, it's not the boy's fault. He's just another innocent victim."

The cat narrowed his gray eyes at the hedgehog, completely thrown off. It was becoming increasingly difficult to save face in front of her.

"So you're saying _I_ was out of line? No offense, but it's not like you were there."

"You're right, I wasn't", Maria replied calmly, sensing the restrained anger in Eugene's voice. "To each his own. But it is interesting to see how each side's 'own' can be surprisingly similar to the other's sometimes."

"Maria", Angelica interrupted before an argument could ensue. "Can you come with me for a sec?"

Without even waiting for an answer, the bat grabbed her friend by the arm and led her out of the alcove, leaving a stunned cat and an amused echidna behind them.

Within a minute, the two girls retreated into the restroom. Once they were clear of the noise in the hall, Angelica leaned back against the sink counter and faced her friend with a stern look in her baby blue eyes.

"What are you doing?" she said, baffled by the debate. Maria shrugged innocently.

"What? We were just talking..."

"You're pushing him away!" the bat exclaimed. "I don't get it; that boy is cute, rich, and totally into you!"

"Because I'm pretty and in line to inherit a whole faction, right?" said the hedgehog, and now her indignation finally began to surface. "I'm sorry, Angie, but the boy I was seeing out there is very different from the boy you were seeing."

"OK, so he's a little forward", Angelica admitted, rolling her eyes, "but I know him. I see him hanging out with Rex all the time. He's not so bad. He's probably just trying too hard to make a good impression. Why don't you give him another chance?"

"I don't know..."

"Come on, Maria! He's got a lot going for him; that's why most of the Chaos girls at our school are crazy about him!"

"What can I say, Angie? It's gonna take a lot more than a handsome face and a loaded wallet to win me over."

"Well, what is it you do want, then?"

The light gray hedgehog paused, unsure how to respond. As she felt the question weighing on her, she shifted her gaze to look over her friend's shoulder into the mirror, where the same pretty girl who had appeared in her bedroom was now staring back at her with a mysterious look in her dark blue eyes. Maria knew that look only too well; it was the exact look she would get whenever she spent time on her balcony watching the night sky. It was a look that reflected the hope shining brightly within her, a hope for something more.

"I want... a spark", she said at last, facing the bat again. "If I'm gonna meet somebody, I want it to be someone who makes me feel the same way I do when I look up at the stars, who gets my heart going, who makes me believe that tomorrow can be better than today. I wanna meet someone who can make me feel beautiful, not just pretty. And Eugene just doesn't do that for me. I'm sorry."

Angelica carefully pondered her friend's words before finally exhaling a deep sigh.

"Well, maybe Eugene can be that guy, if you give him some time. I still think you two could be a good match. But we don't have to worry about that right now. What's say we go back out there and enjoy the party, and let things happen as they will?"

The light gray hedgehog smiled gratefully at the bat and nodded in agreement.

"Fine", she sighed with a roll of her eyes, "but I will say this: the bigger that boy lets his ego get, the greater the risk he runs of having it deflated. I don't know how much longer I can hold back, so he'd better be careful."

And on that note, the girls made their way toward the door, hoping to make the most of what promised to be an exciting night. As she pulled the door open, Angelica spoke again in a cheery tone.

"Who knows? You might even feel a spark tonight!"

If Maria had known exactly how right her friend was, she might have reentered the hall with a little more enthusiasm and a lot more hope. But sure enough, the spark for which she longed would reveal itself much sooner than she anticipated, and from the most unexpected source imaginable.

* * *

A few hours into the party, most of the teenagers seemed to be having a good time, whether they were hanging out in groups around the various tables, indulging in the assorted food and drinks, or dancing before the stage to the upbeat music. Still, this merriment was not without its exceptions, one of which was the lavender hedgehog hiding alone in the shadows on the outskirts of the main floor.

Miles sighed deeply as he leaned back against the wall and looked around the room. He noticed that Lily was still trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible by hiding around the tables close to the entrance, while Sonia continued to show off her cocky attitude as a self-proclaimed "life of the party" mingling on the dance floor. On the other side of the room, he saw Rex making his way past the speakers toward his girlfriend Angelica, who in turn was standing in an alcove with a group of girls...

And that was when he saw her. It was a moment the lavender hedgehog would come to remember as the first time he actually thought his heart might leap out of his chest, for standing against the wall across the floor was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his entire life. Of course, what exactly made her so attractive and why she had caught his attention were mysteries yet to be solved...

She was a teenage hedgehog, almost certainly the same age as the boy himself, give or take a year. The bright light within the alcove revealed she was light gray in color, with faded red highlights in her quills, and her eyes were of a shade of blue so dark and unique, Miles was certain he had only ever seen such a color before in the sky, for surely anything else of that same blue didn't belong on the mortal earth. Furthermore, her beauty was not exclusive to her face; while many of the other girls at the party flaunted dresses cut to well above their knees, this girl boasted a classic elegance of her own in a lovely black-trimmed white dress that fell to her ankles. There was no question: she was absolutely mesmerizing.

The lavender hedgehog gazed at the mysterious girl – how long exactly, he never knew – as he began to wonder who she was and where she had come from. He noticed she had a distant look in her eyes, as though she weren't entirely present for the conversation among the girls beside her. Her face held a warm yet halfhearted smile while her gaze shifted between the group and the rest of the room, and before long, Miles found himself wishing that she would look at him and offer an inviting look, just so he'd have a reason to approach her.

Before he could even work up the courage to pursue this girl, however, the young hedgehog was suddenly caught off guard when his cousin appeared out of nowhere and grabbed him briskly by the arm.

"Hey!" Sonia exclaimed in his ear after he turned sharply to face her in alarm. "You having fun?"

Still recovering from being knocked back to his senses, Miles had barely registered the vixen's presence when he nodded once.

"Great!" she said. "Hey, you know where Lily is? I haven't seen her on the floor..."

The hedgehog pointed toward the entrance area, prompting Sonia to glance behind her at the tables near the front doors. Before leaving to talk to her other cousin, however, the fox decided to hang back and chat with Miles for several minutes about the party and the few times she had almost gotten caught. After warning him to steer clear of Rex, the vixen left the boy to seek out the lilac hedgehog. Relieved at being left to his own will once more, Miles looked back toward the alcove across the room, only to find that the girl he had hoped to see again was no longer there...

* * *

Maria leaned back against the wall of the alcove, drifting from the conversation taking place beside her. Uninterested in the superficial topics that Angelica and her friends liked to discuss, the light gray hedgehog started scanning the hall, her gaze stopping for a few seconds at a time as she observed the other partygoers...

And then she spotted the boy across the room, and her focus instantly locked onto him. As far as she could tell from the dim lighting in which he stood, he was a lavender hedgehog with eyes of the purest emerald green, which were on a fox standing beside him, partly hidden from view behind a column. Watching him closely, Maria couldn't account for the sudden rush that had overtaken her heart at the sight of this boy, whether it was the modesty he displayed in a black jacket and pants with a plain white shirt, or the kindness reflected so brilliantly in his eyes despite the low lighting, or even a greater reason that she had yet to discover. All she knew for sure was that he was surprisingly intriguing, and after gazing at him for a few minutes, she found herself wanting him to notice her, to approach her, to allow her to get to know him. Such a wish was very uncharacteristic of her...

"Maria... Maria?"

The sound of her cousin's voice brought the young hedgehog back to her senses, and she turned sharply back to the group to see Rex gazing at her in concern. Angelica raised an eyebrow as she continued her boyfriend's thought.

"You OK?"

Maria paused to recover from her shock before acknowledging her friends' words.

"Yeah, I'm fine..."

At that moment, however, the light gray hedgehog spotted Eugene approaching the alcove along the wall, and unwilling to engage in conversation with him again, she hastily made an excuse to distance herself from the group.

"Actually, I think I'm gonna get something to drink. Excuse me..."

And without another word, she slipped away and headed for the entrance area through the middle of the floor, careful to stay out of the cat's sight. A minute later, Maria stood alone by one of the long tables, looking curiously toward the spot from which the mysterious boy she'd been watching had disappeared...

* * *

Intent on seeking out the mystery girl, Miles stepped away from the wall and wandered onto the floor, glancing in all directions as he strolled between the tables. Every idea of staying out of sight had been erased from his mind to be replaced by one thought: _find her_. Not that he knew what would happen once he did, but he chose not to think that far ahead yet. Still, he wondered if he should have given his quest a little more thought before setting out...

Rex was in the middle of a conversation with Angelica and Eugene when he suddenly noticed the lavender hedgehog walking amid the people just off the dance floor. The sight of that boy made the echidna's heart stop, and the smile instantly vanished from his face as he froze. The first to notice this change in mood was the bat, who was quick to inquire about her boyfriend's attitude.

"Rex? What's wrong?"

Instead of answering her, however, the red echidna merely excused himself and walked away, leaving his friends to exchange bewildered looks in his wake.

A minute later, Rex stood before his aunt and uncle in a corner of the hall opposite the stage. The teenager was intent on alerting the adults of the disconcerting news, an expression of contained rage on his face as he pointed to the center of the room.

"Uncle Shadow, there are crashers here!" he exclaimed. "That boy over there is Miles Hedgehog from Control! And I'll bet anything that if he's here, his cousin isn't far away! What do we do?"

The black hedgehog quietly watched the lavender one for several seconds, a subtle fury surfacing in his red eyes, before turning back to his nephew and answering in a composed voice.

"Nothing", he said, and continued before Rex had time to object. "The mayor made it very clear today that if another fight between Chaos and Control breaks out on public ground, everyone will held accountable. We can't afford to have our good name tarnished, not right before Maria starts school. If they cause any trouble, we can deal with them later, but for now, just ignore them."

Furious, the echidna refused to accept this demand. "But-"

"No, Rex." Shadow was adamant. "I know what they're doing is wrong, but I will not allow you or any of the other Chaos kids to sink to their level. Do not give them the satisfaction of ruining this party. For tonight, you will tolerate them, end of story."

Knowing full well there was nothing he could say to change the black hedgehog's mind, the red echidna huffed in frustration and stormed off to rejoin his friends, leaving his aunt and uncle alone with their growing concern. Still, they were fairly confident there was little trouble the crashers could cause at this point, and that their daughter was safe from suffering a bad influence tonight. Of course, had they known the lavender hedgehog's intentions, they might not have been so dismissive...

* * *

Miles continued through the crowd, searching left and right for the girl who had caught his eye. Unbeknownst to him, Maria was doing the same, walking along the other side of the room in search of the intriguing boy who had lifted her spirits higher than they had been all night. As fate would have it, they were to cross paths very soon...

Noticing Rex walking toward the center of the room, the lavender hedgehog stepped backwards into the shade near his previous hiding spot. He did this at the exact moment the light gray hedgehog retreated toward the same wall to avoid being spotted by Eugene, a fact that resulted in the two bumping into one another.

Maria stumbled from the collision, caught off guard. Fortunately, before she fell, the boy she had walked into whirled around in time to catch her by the hand and pull her back to her feet. The next thing they knew, the teenagers were gazing bewildered into each other's eyes, the girl's left hand still in the boy's right.

For a long moment, neither Miles nor Maria spoke. They simply stared at one another in silence, too stunned to react. Then the lavender hedgehog found his voice.

"I'm sorry", he said awkwardly, shocked just to be standing so close to this girl, let alone talking to her. "I... don't know exactly what brought me here..."

The light gray hedgehog replied with equal timidity, just as astounded. "Honestly, I'm not so sure what brought me here either..."

Feeling a sudden fear overtaking him, the boy made as if to retreat in alarm, but the girl gently tightened her hold on his fingers and wouldn't let him go.

"Wait", she said kindly, and now a sweet smile began to form on her lips, effectively calming the nervous teenager. "Why don't you stay?"

"I don't know", the lavender hedgehog admitted shyly, returning the smile. "Somehow, talking to you feels like... crashing a party: you know you're breaking the rules, but what you hope to gain makes it worth the risk."

"You don't give yourself enough credit", the light gray hedgehog laughed. "What if you were invited and didn't know it?"

At this question, Miles dared to shift his fingers slightly and gaze deeper into the dark blue eyes before him, an increasingly hopeful smile on his face.

"Was I?"

Maria did not give a spoken reply, but instead moved her hand around his until their palms were flat against each other and their fingertips touched. Her soft gaze and sweet smile were enough to greatly lift his spirits.

Suddenly, the lights in the hall dimmed and the music changed to a slower beat. The teenagers released each other's hand and broke eye contact to look curiously at the space before the stage, where they saw couples taking to the floor to dance together. Finding himself in an awkward position, the lavender hedgehog turned back to the light gray one and leaned forward to whisper in her ear.

"Hey, you wanna step outside for a while?"

It was a risky question, but as much as he would have liked to escort this girl to the dance floor, he knew he couldn't chance being sighted by Rex or his Chaos friends. To the boy's immense relief, his companion faced him again with a smile and a nod; evidently she had as little intent as he did to step into the crowd. Reciprocating her kind gesture, Miles led the way to the side door some feet away, and after pushing it open for her, he followed the girl into the cool night air.

The outdoor area was occupied by a handful of teenagers, all too immersed in their own conversations to notice the couple walking to a hidden corner by the building. As the hedgehogs leaned back against the wall, the boy told the girl something that, surprisingly, he hadn't thought to share back in the hall.

"I'm Miles, by the way", he said. She acknowledged the introduction with a nod.

"I'm Maria."

Maria... Even her name was beautiful, Miles thought as he gazed at the light gray hedgehog in awe.

"That's very pretty. It suits you well."

"Thank you", she replied, grateful as much for the compliment as for the shadows that partly concealed her blushing face. "Your name is nice too. In fact, you may be the first Miles I've ever met."

The lavender hedgehog replied with a laugh, thankful that the conversation would not progress into this topic. Her full name didn't matter to him; given that he wasn't too keen to share his own anyway, for now her first name would suffice.

"So, Maria..." said the boy casually, "is it just me, or were you as eager as I was to get out of that place?"

The young girl laughed and leaned her head back with a sigh.

"You have no idea... I've been in there for hours, and the longer the night goes on, the more I can't wait for it to be over."

"Let me guess: you're not here because you wanna be, are you? You're here because of someone else, and you don't wanna let them down, so you stay. Meanwhile, you feel out of place, like... no matter how crowded the room gets, you're alone, and all you wanna do is scream while you stand there waiting for that one person who would actually hear you, all the while knowing they might not even exist. Right?"

Maria stared at Miles in awe. She hadn't anticipated such eloquence from a boy her own age.

"I guess you do have an idea", she said, turning to stare straight ahead. "So who's your 'someone else'?"

"My cousin and my sister", said the lavender hedgehog, also leaning back to gaze ahead. "They figured I could use a night out for a change. I mean, they're nice girls with good intentions, but I'm just not the 'social' type. What about you?"

The light gray hedgehog hesitated. In fact, there were a few people she wanted to avoid disappointing tonight, but elaborating would mean revealing a crucial detail about who she was, and she realized that his ignorance of this was highly desirable. For as long as possible, she wanted him to see her, not her name or her family.

"It doesn't matter", she replied. "It means a lot to them that I came, so I'm content."

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad they brought you here."

Maria turned to Miles again, and saw that he had already turned to look at her. She felt her heart flutter as her gaze fell on his emerald green eyes, and a smile soon returned to her face.

"Likewise. I owe your cousin and your sister thanks."

"You probably don't wanna meet my cousin right away", said the lavender hedgehog, embarrassed. "She can be a little too... extroverted sometimes."

"Is she the one I saw talking to you in the hall?"

Miles was surprised by the girl's question, for he knew it had two implications: she had noticed him when he wasn't aware; and for whatever reason, she was not familiar with Sonia Prower.

"Yeah. I'm surprised you haven't seen her before, actually. She's pretty well-known around town."

Maria bowed her head timidly, as if embarrassed by what she was about to admit.

"Actually... I don't really know too many people in Green Hill. I've been homeschooled my whole life, so I don't get out much. In fact, Monday's my first day of normal school ever."

"Really?" The boy didn't expect this, though it certainly explained why he had never seen her before tonight. "How come you've never been to regular school?"

"Probably because my dad is really protective of me", Maria replied with a shrug. "But I guess that's what you should expect when you-"

Fortunately, she caught herself in time to keep from revealing that she stood to inherit power over Chaos, and instead finished her thought with lighter yet equally honest words.

"...when you have a dad who treats you like you're his whole life."

"That sounds nice", said Miles, identifying with part of the feeling. "My dad is more of the 'demanding' type, always pushing me and my sister to be the best. Guess that's his own way of showing he loves us."

The light gray hedgehog nodded, but to the lavender one's relief, no follow-up questions ensued.

For the next half hour, the teenagers shared plenty of laughs as they discussed every topic they couldn't have talked about with their friends, hardly feeling the time pass at all. They were surprised to find how at ease they felt in each other's company, especially Maria, who before she knew it was confiding in her new friend about her favorite subject.

"I don't get all these problems in Green Hill either!" she said, responding to a comment Miles had just made about the constant tension in the air. "It's like no one who lives here has big dreams! Doesn't anyone wanna know what else is out there?"

"You dream about leaving this place?" said the lavender hedgehog. The young girl laughed softly.

"Are you kidding? I spend most of my nights looking up at the stars, wondering what they see from up there."

"No way..."

The light gray hedgehog felt a sense of dread... until the boy finished his thought.

"I thought I was the only one who did that!"

Maria turned sharply to face Miles, awe in her dark blue eyes.

"You stargaze too?" the girl asked. Her companion smiled timidly.

"Sort of. I'm more into 'cloudgazing'. But stars must be just as nice to watch..."

And now the lavender hedgehog looked up at the night sky. It was then that he suddenly felt a familiar sensation, the same he'd been experiencing for the past few weeks. As he focused on the stars, it began to dawn on him that this was the exact scenario from his recurring dream. The difference was that this time, he had a chance to see it through.

His heart beating faster than ever, Miles turned slowly to his right, just as he always would in his dream. To his immense relief and exhilaration, instead of waking up in his own bed, he found himself looking at a beautiful and fascinating girl gazing up at the sky, whose light gray complexion shone a lovely silvery color in the glow of the full moon. This was it: he had solved the mystery.

Covering up his surprise, the young boy hastily asked a question to which he genuinely wished to know the answer.

"So what do you think about when you look at them?"

It was the first time anyone had ever asked Maria that question, and she was thrilled to finally be able to answer it.

"Honestly, I think they look down on our world and laugh at us. They must think we're silly for caring so much about little problems that mean nothing to them."

"So you think the stars spend their nights watching us, the same way we watch them?" said Miles curiously. "What if they live in their own world, with their own little problems? Maybe they sympathize with us."

"If the stars didn't laugh at our pathetic insignificance, they'd be guilty of pathos themselves", said the light gray hedgehog wisely. "And if the stars don't consider our problems silly, then they're even sillier to take their own freedom for granted."

"Do you wish you were a star, then?" asked the lavender hedgehog, thoroughly intrigued. The young girl sighed deeply as she gazed longingly up at the sky.

"A star, a cloud, the wind... anything that could take me away from this place and let me see the world from above. Maybe if we all knew the world the way the stars do, we'd understand just how small we really are, and how in the grand scheme of things, our problems don't mean anything."

Maria closed her eyes as her voice trailed off into a wishful whisper.

"What I wouldn't give to see what they see. To have such wisdom as a star must be truly wonderful..."

This girl was incredible; Miles couldn't stop running this thought through his mind. As if it weren't enough that she was breathtakingly beautiful, she was also smart and refreshingly down-to-earth. Not once had she questioned his allegiance; she didn't seem to care to which side of Green Hill his loyalties lay. No, this girl was far too intelligent to bother with petty political matters. She was much more interested in important things, like dreams and freedom and the stars. She had the most fascinating outlook on life, and it made her so attractive in the lavender hedgehog's eyes that before long, he was getting lost in the silvery glow of her face, her sweet flowery scent that seemed to fill his very soul, her innocent lips that were drawing him closer and closer until he was no longer fully aware of what he was doing...

Maria breathed a heavy sigh, drifting yet again into her daydreams, when she was suddenly brought back to reality by the unexpected feeling of something – no, someone – touching her lips. It took her a second to realize she was in contact with another pair of lips, and there could be no doubt to whom they belonged. Was he really so bold as to make such a daring move in the one minute she was off her guard?

In truth, it mattered not. Her eyes still closed, the teenage girl was more conscious than usual of her heartbeat, which had accelerated to a rapid pace in only a few seconds. By the time she became fully aware of what was happening, Maria was already surrendering to the kiss, getting lost in the passion of the moment, feeling time itself seem to stop just for them. Before she could react, however, she felt the boy suddenly pull away in alarm. The next thing they knew, the two were staring into each other's wide eyes, silent with mutual shock.

Miles didn't know what to say. He hadn't planned the kiss; he hadn't even thought it through. It had simply happened. The question now was how Maria was going to react to his surprising audacity. The possibilities made him nervous; the last thing he wanted was to scare her away and lose any chance he might have with her for good.

"I... I'm sorry", he stammered. "I... I never do this, I swear."

"Do what?" Her tone carried a faint note of indignation. "Kiss girls you've known for less than an hour?"

Miles leaned back against the wall and bowed his head in shame. As he was about to discover, however, Maria was not done speaking, and the next words to reach his ears would lift his spirits once more...

"...Or make girls believe in magic?"

The lavender hedgehog turned sharply to lock his gaze with the dark blue eyes that seemed to have an increasingly deep insight into his soul. The sight of the grin appearing on the light gray hedgehog's face brought a hopeful smile to his own. Perhaps he had done something right after all...

Maria stared into her companion's emerald green eyes for a long moment, reflecting on those exhilarating seconds of innocent passion until finally mustering the courage to relive them. In the most daring act she had ever committed in her 16 years of life, the young girl reached out to lightly touch the boy's face, then took a step forward and leaned in to touch her lips to his. As she felt the passion in his kiss and the soft touch of his arms gently pulling her closer, her heart fluttered while her spirits ascended into the starry heavens above. It was the single most perfect moment of her life.

After several seconds of bliss, the teenagers pulled away to gaze at each other once more. The silence between them lingered, neither of them wishing to disturb the peace brought on by the kiss, but soon enough, Miles broke the silence in a whisper.

"Wow..."

A smile returned to Maria's face. "I know. It's unreal..."

Suddenly, the lavender hedgehog remembered the questions that had been plaguing his mind for weeks, and he now felt more compelled than ever to seek the truth behind his mysterious feelings.

"Maria, tell me... do you believe in fate?"

The light gray hedgehog hesitated. She could tell where the boy was going...

"I don't know, Miles. I've never thought about it before. Why?"

"Because", he said tentatively, a new excitement beginning to shine in his green eyes, "I can't help but feel like... this was supposed to happen, that I was supposed to come to this party and meet you. Does that sound crazy to you?"

"Not at all", said the girl just as brightly. "I'm starting to feel it too. I don't think I've ever felt so comfortable with anyone before, especially someone I just met."

"Me neither! I don't normally talk to girls so easily, but it's different with you. I feel like I can say anything to you and you'll get it. Heck, I probably said more to you tonight than I've said to my family in the last month!"

"Likewise!" Maria laughed, and leaned sideways against the wall with a dreamy look in her eyes. "I think I could stay here with you all night..."

Miles leaned against the wall as well, a broad smile brightening his face. It was obvious by the look in his eyes that he felt the same way.

"And what about every night after this?" he whispered hopefully. "What would the stars have to say about that?"

"On two young hearts finding peace with each other, the stars can only smile", said the light gray hedgehog in her poetic manner. The lavender hedgehog laughed softly.

"Well, I'm in no rush to go back inside. If the stars allow it, then by all means, let's stay here all night."

Maria was more than happy to agree – even hoping Miles would move to kiss her again, as she sensed he wanted to – when suddenly, their moment was interrupted by loud noises sounding from nearby. Caught off guard, the hedgehogs looked toward the door to see the other teenagers flocking back into the clubhouse, laughing audibly as they stepped through the doorway. At the sounds coming through the open doorway, the light gray hedgehog suddenly gasped, and her eyes grew wide as she turned sharply to face the lavender hedgehog again.

"What's wrong?" he asked, alarmed.

"I... I just remembered something", she replied. "I have to go back inside."

"What? Why?"

"I... can't really say. It's hard to explain. But I can't stay here. I'm sorry."

"Well, will I see you again tonight?" Miles grew more nervous with each answer Maria gave, and the fact that she started retreating toward the door didn't help.

"I don't know", the teenage girl admitted anxiously. "But I'd like to meet with you again. Is there any way you could stay 'til the end of the party?"

"It's hard to say", said the boy, following his companion toward the door. "I'm here with other people. But I hope so. I will if I can, and if not, maybe I'll see you at school on Monday?"

The teenagers stopped just outside the entrance. The light gray hedgehog turned back to the lavender one.

"I would like that", she whispered with a smile, and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek.

Over the moon, Miles and Maria made their way back into the clubhouse with broad grins on their faces, still innocently unaware how close they were to discovering a deeply unsettling truth, and just how cruel fate could be.


	4. Crossing Stars

**Author's note: Yes, it's the famous balcony scene! This chapter was heavily inspired by Shakespeare's poetry, though written in much more accessible language. Consider it a partial translation of the original text. To see more of Shakespeare's text in modern English, look up "No Fear Shakespeare". Otherwise, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 4 – Crossing Stars

The night was reaching an end. Most of the music had been played, and the mood in the hall had become more relaxed. As the crowd on the dance floor thinned and the partygoers came closer to calling it a night, two young hedgehogs edged their way back into the clubhouse, secretly wishing they hadn't been missed, while at the same time knowing that was a lot to hope for...

The minute Miles and Maria reentered the clubhouse, a voice loudly called the latter's name. The teenagers looked sharply to their right to see a faint gray bat approaching, making a beeline straight for the girl of the pair as if the boy weren't there at all, let alone standing right behind her.

"There you are!" Angelica grabbed her friend by the hand and pulled her forward. "Come on, your mom's looking for you!"

Maria watched as her best friend indicated the space at the end of the hall, just to the right of the stage, where a white hedgehog was looking back at her. As Angelica turned away, the light gray hedgehog glanced back at Miles and gave him an innocent smile before walking away to meet with her mother.

The lavender hedgehog watched his new romantic interest move toward the stage, optimism in his eyes and a hopeful smile on his face. However, his hope began to fade as he noticed the person Maria was approaching, and by the time she reached her destination, the smile had vanished from his lips. The sight of the white hedgehog sparked unease within him. She looked very familiar...

"Who's her mom?" said Miles. Not realizing he'd wondered aloud, he was surprised to hear a scoff from the teenage bat.

"You don't get out much, do you?" she said, her back to the boy. "Her mom is only Crystal Hedgehog, as in the matriarch of Chaos!"

It was like a sucker punch to the stomach. The lavender hedgehog suddenly felt as though his world had been turned upside down, and as he realized that the girl he had kissed was none other than the daughter of his family's enemies, his insides turned cold with a mix of fear, dread and guilt. His gaze fixed on Maria, Miles voiced his disbelief in a tone that barely concealed the true extent of his shock.

"So if her mom is one of the leaders of Chaos, that makes her...?"

"Practically royalty", said the faint gray bat, her eyes still on her friend. "But that's nothing. You want authority, you should see who her dad is. You won't find anyone more protective of his daughter than Shadow the Hedgehog. Any guy who can charm Maria and still get in good with her parents will have it made!"

It was devastating news, and having no desire to make things worse, the hedgehog quickly made himself scarce. Subtly as he could, Miles stepped around the girl and disappeared into the crowd, so that by the time she looked over her shoulder, he was nowhere to be found. Though she was puzzled to find herself talking to nobody, Angelica merely shrugged and walked away to find her boyfriend, all the while innocently unaware of how her words had punctured a fragile heart.

* * *

Maria approached her mother with a fluttering heart and a bright smile on her face. Though she was no longer in his presence, the thought of Miles was enough to lift her spirits higher than ever before. So great was her joy that by the time she reached the stage, Crystal could sense the positive energy radiating from her.

"Sweetheart, you look so happy!" the white hedgehog laughed. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Mom", said the young girl innocently. "I'm just having a wonderful time."

"That's great", said Crystal. "Listen, sweetheart, your father is looking for you. It's about our agreement, from earlier this evening."

"I know", said the teenager. "I'm sorry. I stepped outside for a bit, but I didn't forget. Where's Daddy?"

The white hedgehog pointed behind her daughter. Looking back, Maria saw the black hedgehog standing on the near side of the stage speaking to the DJ. The raccoon nodded once and returned to his station while Shadow looked back down the steps to see his daughter. A smile appearing on his face, the patriarch of Chaos extended his hand to the light gray hedgehog, who hurried up the stairs and greeted him with a hug. After a moment, the black hedgehog looked her in the eyes again.

"You ready, princess?"

The teenager nodded, and with that, Shadow made his way to the front of the stage, where the DJ had just finished setting up a microphone. Once the music had died down, the hedgehog took the microphone to draw the attention of the crowd.

"Good evening, young ladies and gentlemen", he said, watching every head in the room turn to face him. "As you all most likely know, I'm Shadow, one of the leaders of Chaos. Of course, if any of you didn't already know who my wife and I are, we'd have to wonder where exactly you've been for most of your life..."

As her father addressed the crowd of teenagers, Maria looked out into the hall, hoping to catch the eye of the boy who had touched her heart. When her gaze fell on the spot where she had last seen him, however, she realized that Miles had moved, and after scanning the room, she caught sight of him walking behind the audience toward the opposite wall in the entrance area. Seeing the distinct unease on his face, the light gray hedgehog felt the smile vanish from her own as she wondered what had happened to change his attitude so unexpectedly. For the life of her, she couldn't imagine why the lavender hedgehog seemed so distraught, and after watching him stop beside the long tables, she became so distracted by the sight of him being approached by a lilac hedgehog that she almost didn't realize when her name echoed through the room.

"After years of homeschooling, Crystal and I are thrilled to announce that our daughter will finally be attending Emerald High. We couldn't be more proud of her, and we hope her new classmates will make her feel welcome. So in the interest of starting her off on the right foot, I'd like to introduce my daughter, Maria."

The subsequent applause jolted the teenage girl back to her senses, and suddenly realizing she had become the center of attention, she smiled again as she stepped forward to stand beside her father. She knew why her peers began whispering amongst themselves: being reclusive by nature, Maria ventured from her home so rarely that even a large portion of the Chaos youth knew little to nothing of her existence, to the point where talks of the faction's next leader were shrouded in mystery and circulated in rumors. Now that she was finally being given a proper introduction, the light gray hedgehog could only imagine what thoughts were running through her future classmates' minds. However, it was not as difficult to predict how they would treat her, given that it was common knowledge who her parents were...

"Maria is an exceptionally bright girl", said Shadow, "someone I'm sure we'll all be proud to have as our faction's leader someday. In the best interest of Chaos, I expect her to be met with the utmost respect. Otherwise, I may have to question the integrity of our youth, and I sincerely hope it shouldn't have to come to that."

Under any other circumstances, the young girl might have felt inclined to request a less intimidating approach on her father's part, to discreetly assure him that his protectiveness was unnecessary. Tonight, however, Maria barely took notice of Shadow's speech, instead focusing on the boy at the other end of the hall, who by now had gone unusually pale in the face. As she watched him, the light gray hedgehog started to feel concern for her friend, and she wondered what he might be saying to the lilac hedgehog standing before him with equal anxiety on her face...

* * *

Miles watched from the back of the crowd as the girl of his dreams took the stage to acknowledge her title as the future head of his family's rival faction. It was ironic how in the course of a few minutes, the thought of seeing her standing in the limelight had gone from uplifting to heartbreaking, and while he gazed up at her in melancholy, he began to reflect on the surreal events of that fateful night...

So she was from Chaos?! Of course she was; it only made sense. He had never seen her until tonight, and in any case, the place was so crowded with people from the Chaos faction that he should only have thought it inevitable to meet someone from their side. Perhaps he should have left the moment he learned he and his friends were crashing... But it was too late. They had met, and now Miles was faced with the exhilarating and terrifying situation of having found something for which most people probably spent their whole lives searching in vain. How could life be so unfair?

Heartbroken, the teenage boy turned away from the two hedgehogs on the stage and slowly walked back to the entrance area in a daze. He was so bewildered that he barely noticed when he reached the long tables and leaned against the wall, though he was quickly brought to his senses by the sharp sound of his sister's voice in his ear.

"There you are!" Lily exclaimed, hurrying to stand before her brother. "Where have you been? Some preppy girls were trying to talk to me about clothes. _Clothes_! I've been tugging my ear blue for twenty minutes!"

At the sight of the fearful expression on her twin's face, however, the lilac hedgehog's indignation changed to concern.

"Miles? Are you OK?"

"I'm fine", said the boy, staring vaguely past his sister. Lily was not convinced.

"I beg to differ. You look like you've seen a ghost! Now what's wrong? Did something happen to you?"

Miles exhaled a heavy sigh before making eye contact with the girl. He had no idea what to say.

"I... I did something stupid..."

"What are you talking about?"

"I think I might be in trouble..."

Lily rapidly turned pale, matching her brother's wan complexion in seconds.

"What did you do?" she asked, fearing the worst. "Is it Chaos? Did they find you? Did they threaten you?!"

"Relax", said Miles, raising a hand to calm his sister. "I'm fine, I swear. It's just..."

But there was no way he could explain what had happened without revealing the gravity of his mistake. Lily had shown signs of panic at the thought of anyone from Chaos seeing him. How would she react if she learned that the most important girl in their faction had not only spoken to him, but kissed him?

"You know what?" he said after a minute. "It doesn't matter. I'm pretty sure it's over now. Nothing's gonna happen. I... overreacted, that's all."

"Are you sure?" said the teenage girl, focusing intently on her brother's face as though trying to determine if he was lying. "You wanna talk about it?"

In truth, Miles wasn't enthusiastic about sharing his predicament with his sister at the moment, but he didn't want to discard the possibility of a future discussion with her either. After all, Lily was his best friend, and her loyalty and willingness to listen would likely prove extremely helpful later on.

"Thanks, but it's OK. Besides, I don't think it's polite of us to be standing here talking while the host is making an important announcement..."

The siblings turned to face the stage, where they saw Shadow finishing his speech while his daughter walked back to the stairs. As the light gray hedgehog stepped down, the sister of the twins voiced the first thought to come to her mind.

"She's pretty, isn't she?"

Caught off guard, the teenage boy responded with a nod and a muttered "Yeah". The girl took this as enough incentive to continue.

"You know, I don't think anyone outside of Chaos had any idea Shadow and Crystal had a kid! For all we knew, Rex was the next in line to take over when they retired. Never been outside Chaos ground, never attended a real school... That's protective parenting to the extreme, if you ask me. Let's just hope Maria has a little more sense in her head than the rest of her family, right?"

As much as he would have liked to have this talk any other time, Miles did not wish to think any more about his new crush someday taking over Chaos, and quickly changed the subject. For the next several minutes, the lavender hedgehog mostly listened quietly as Lily told of her experiences in the last few hours. In truth, most of her words passed through him, for he couldn't stop thinking about the beautiful girl at the opposite end of the hall. He barely even noticed when Sonia joined them, and shortly after his cousin noted that the party was ending and they should start heading out, he glanced across the room to find a sight that made his heart sink...

* * *

With Shadow's speech coming to a close, Maria timidly bowed her head one last time, then turned and slowly walked back to the stairs. With each step she took, her mind grew heavier with discouraging thoughts of her new romantic interest and his odd change of mood. She had good reason to be anxious, because only one explanation for this came to mind, and it was exactly what she had feared from the start...

Several minutes later, when her father had finished his speech and her mother had given her a brief word of praise, the young girl stepped away from her parents to meet with her friends again. By now, most of the other teenagers were making their way toward the front area, ready to return home after an eventful night. The light gray hedgehog noticed that her crush was still standing near the doors talking to his unidentified friend, and intent on solving her mystery before he disappeared, she quickly called the attention of the faint gray bat standing a short distance away.

"Angie... Angie, come here..."

Angelica turned around to see Maria urgently beckoning her over. The bat walked over to the hedgehog and leaned in to hear the question whispered in her ear.

"Who's that boy?"

Angelica followed Maria's discreetly lifted forefinger to see she was indicating someone close to the hall's entrance. The bat replied assuming the person in question was the purple cat walking toward the door.

"Who, Eugene Princeton? You're kidding, right? Did you forget about him already? He's only the richest boy in Chaos, and one of the cutest too. Careful around that one; he's still got his eye on you, you know, even after your little 'debate'."

"No, not him", said Maria, never having taken her eyes off her crush. "That hedgehog boy over there."

As the cat walked past him, Angelica saw the lavender hedgehog close to the door, engaged in conversation with a lilac hedgehog who had her back turned to them. At the sight of the pair, the bat furrowed her brow.

"That's a good question. He looks familiar, but it's hard to tell from here..."

Just then, she saw the hedgehogs being approached by a two-tailed vixen, and her expression quickly changed from puzzlement to near panic.

"Wait a second; I know that girl. Hang on..."

Angelica stepped away to consult with her boyfriend. Maria turned away from the group by the entrance to watch the conversation unfold between the couple some feet away, and though she couldn't hear what they were saying, she could clearly read their faces and body language. She saw Angelica mutter something to Rex while pointing discreetly at the three friends near the door. The echidna spared a glance at them before speaking to the bat with a cold fury in his blue eyes. The hedgehog noticed the hint of a snarl on Rex's face, and she didn't miss the expression of shock that spread across Angelica's face at whatever he was saying. After a few more words were exchanged, the faint gray bat walked back to her friend, surprise still evident in her baby blue eyes.

"You're not gonna believe this..."

"Believe what?" said Maria, growing more concerned by the second. Her friend faced the group by the doors again as she explained.

"That boy... is Miles Hedgehog, as in the son of Sonic the Hedgehog and Amy Rose, the leaders of Control!"

This was news the light gray hedgehog definitely did not expect, a fact made clear by the sudden widening of her eyes and the pause it took her to recover her voice.

"You're kidding..."

"Nope", said Angelica, her gaze still on the unwelcome guests. "And get this: that hedgehog girl is his sister Lily, and the fox is their cousin, _Sonia Prower_. Rex sees them all the time around town, and that Prower girl is the worst of the bunch, so you know anyone who hangs out with her is bad news. She's always stirring up trouble. He bets anything it was her idea to crash this party. The nerve..."

In truth, Maria barely heard any of her friend's words after "Control". All she could think now was that fate had been unbelievably cruel tonight.

How could he be from Control? Of all the boys she could have kissed and begun to fall for, why did it have to be the son of her father's sworn enemy? It wasn't fair... The seed of a promising passion – the first she would ever know – born from the generations-old feud that she had been taught to acknowledge her whole life. Could she be forgiven if she had met him before knowing who he was, and had only learned where he'd come from after already feeling the spark?

It didn't take long for Angelica to notice the disheartened expression on her friend's face, and she placed a hand gently on Maria's shoulder.

"Hey, don't sweat it", said the bat with a smile. "It's not like they've caused any trouble tonight. Besides, the party's already over; they can't do any damage at this point. At least you didn't run into any of them, right?"

The light gray hedgehog nodded halfheartedly, her gaze still fixed on the party crashers. While the faint gray bat turned away to bid her passing friends goodbye, Maria saw Miles look past his sister and cousin to stare directly at her, and as his green eyes met her blue ones, she could almost feel his sadness as plainly as her own. The young girl noticed the boy glance at Rex and Angelica before looking back at her. It was only too clear that he had realized she knew the truth about him as well. The question now was where exactly they were left to go from here...

As more guests filed out the doors, Maria saw Miles turn away to acknowledge Sonia's persistent tugging at his sleeve. A second later, she felt a touch on her shoulder again, and turned around to see her mother beckoning her to return to the end of the hall so they could prepare to leave. The light gray hedgehog spared a final glance at the lavender one, watching him give her one more look of dismay before turning to follow the two-tailed vixen and the lilac hedgehog out the double doors. The moment he disappeared, the young girl exhaled a deep sigh, then turned to follow her mother back to the corner where her father was waiting, her mind clouded with thoughts of the uncertain future that lay ahead.

* * *

Miles gazed longingly across the hall at Maria, discouraged by the expression on her face. A glance at her friends confirmed that she had learned his true identity, and now there was no telling what she would do. The lavender hedgehog was so preoccupied with wishing she wouldn't care he was from Control that he almost didn't notice when his cousin started tugging at his jacket sleeve.

"Hey, are you listening?" Sonia gently nudged the hedgehog twins toward the exit. "The party's over; we gotta split before they catch us."

Reluctant to leave but unwilling to risk his friends' safety, the young boy glanced one last time at the light gray hedgehog across the room, then turned with a heavy heart and followed the girls to the doors, staying a few steps behind them as they stepped outside into the clear night. Miles took little care to keep up with his sister and cousin, however, too preoccupied with the troubling ideas forming in his mind.

He had to see her again; of this he was absolutely sure. But how? She was surrounded by members of Chaos, and he couldn't run after her while stuck in the company of his own Control peers. Still, there had to be a way he could meet with Maria in secret, at least long enough to talk. Did they stand the slightest chance of being together? He may not have known the answer, but he did know he would never be able to live with himself unless he took every possible measure to find out the truth. It was dangerous, but what stood to be gained was definitely worth the risk.

Just as he was wishing for an opportunity to escape, a group of loud girls stepped between the lavender hedgehog and his friends. Seeing his chance, Miles slipped into the shadows among the trees lining the path. He had just enough time to scramble up the nearest tree before Lily and Sonia noticed he had vanished. Peering through the leaves, the teenage boy silently watched his twin look over her shoulder, then don a nervous expression as she stopped in her tracks to glance frantically in all directions.

"Where's Miles?"

A few steps ahead, the fox glanced around the path before looking back at Lily.

"Good question. I could have sworn he was right behind us..."

The lilac hedgehog began shouting to her brother, trying hard to stay inconspicuous while still calling loudly enough that he might hear her.

"Miles? Miles, where are you? Come on, we gotta go!"

The lavender hedgehog continued to watch his friends, hardly daring to breathe lest his twin manage to sense him out. Fortunately, the two-tailed vixen soon interrupted her cousin's calls with reassuring words.

"Lily, relax. Don't worry about Miles. I'm sure he's fine."

"But what if someone-"

"Nobody from Chaos snatched him; we'd know if they did. Maybe he just wanted some space. He's probably on his way home right now. We should be too."

Listen to Sonia, Miles thought desperately. It's OK, Lily; just go home...

"Are you sure? We can't just leave him..."

I'm fine, the boy thought a little harder. Please, go away before someone from Chaos catches you...

"Miles is a big boy; he can take care of himself. Trust me, he'll be fine without us. Now let's get out of here."

For once grateful to his cousin for her brazen intervention, Miles quietly exhaled the breath he'd been holding and watched in relief as Lily and Sonia continued on their way up the path back to the safety of Control territory. When they were finally out of sight, the lavender hedgehog returned to the ground, then retreated from the path and through the trees toward Chaos territory, where he hoped to find the girl of his dreams and discover if she too believed that fate might be on their side.

* * *

Within an hour after rejoining her family and friends, Maria was back in the comfort and privacy of her bedroom, bidding her parents goodnight and thanking them profusely for the wonderful evening they had arranged for her.

"I had the best time tonight!" she said with a smile. "Thank you so much!"

"You're very welcome, sweetheart", said the white hedgehog, happily accepting her daughter's embrace. "We're glad you enjoyed yourself."

"You feel ready to start school now?" asked Shadow. The teenager nodded timidly.

"I think so", she said, and added brightly, "I did meet some people that I'm looking forward to seeing again."

The adults took this to mean a breakthrough in their daughter's shyness, and smiled warmly at the thought. After bidding her goodnight one last time, Shadow and Crystal moved toward the door to head for their own bedroom. Before both her parents disappeared into the hallway, however, Maria took advantage of her father's absence to call her mother's attention. The white hedgehog stopped in the doorway and faced the young girl again.

"Mom..." said the light gray hedgehog tentatively, "do you really think going to school will help me find my Calling?"

Crystal paused to consider the question before breaking into a kind smile.

"I think it will, sweetheart", she said. The teenager returned her mother's smile before continuing in her uncertain tone.

"How will I know when I find it?"

Another brief pause followed. The white hedgehog approached her daughter so as to better look her in the eyes.

"You'll just know", said Crystal, placing a hand gently under Maria's chin. "It'll hit you like lightning, and you'll get this rush, and you'll know it's something you've never felt before. Trust me; you can't mistake the spark."

The light gray hedgehog gazed quietly back into her mother's blue eyes. What she said did make sense, though the familiarity of that description was eerie...

"Don't worry, Maria", the white hedgehog continued. "Everything will be fine. Just focus on doing well in school, and when the time comes, your Calling will find you."

"Thanks, Mom", said the 16-year-old with a sweet smile, and with that, Crystal gently kissed her daughter on the forehead and retreated into the hallway, leaving the teenager alone with her thoughts once more.

As her mother closed the door, Maria turned around to face the standing mirror, where once again she found the beautiful girl in the black-and-white dress gazing back at her with dark blue eyes full of wonder. The spark in her reflection's eyes filled the light gray hedgehog with hope, and as she took a seat at her vanity to clean the makeup from her face, her heart fluttered with the memories of that evening.

Within minutes, the cosmetic mask had faded away, and for the first time that night since the moon had risen, the natural face of Maria Hedgehog appeared in the mirror, staring back at its real-life counterpart in content. Before changing out of her party dress, however, the teenager turned to the window to see a few stars just visible through the sliver in the curtains. Sensing the familiar lure of her favorite pastime, the young girl approached the window, swiftly parted the curtains, pulled the tall glass panes open, and stepped out onto her balcony.

The sight of the full moon and the stars above brought peace to Maria's heart, but although she leaned back against the wall the same way she always did, there was nothing routine about the thoughts pervading her mind. As she gazed longingly up at the sky, the teenager began to dwell on the mysterious boy who had captivated her, and before long, she closed her eyes and made a silent wish that somehow, against all odds, they would have the chance to meet again. She couldn't have known in that moment exactly how close she was to having her wish come true, nor how great an impact it would have on the rest of her life, but it didn't matter. For the time being, she was content to believe that when one willed their dreams into reality with all their heart, absolutely anything was possible.

* * *

On Green Hill's east side, outside the border between Chaos territory and public ground, a 16-year-old boy paced incessantly, his heart pounding as he glanced repeatedly between the ominous chain-link fence and his feet. Such nervous behavior was to be expected, for what he was about to attempt was something he had never once considered doing in his life...

Miles Hedgehog was not a typical rebellious teenager. He never went out of his way to break the rules; in fact, he was one of only a handful of adolescents from either faction with a clean record. Trespassing into a restricted area, however, would effectively break that streak. The idea of undertaking such a risk had started a debate between his mind and his heart, but even after several minutes, he still couldn't decide whether he should go through with it. It wasn't until he stopped and closed his eyes that he finally began to lean toward the bolder option. As he inhaled a deep breath, he began to reminisce about the time he had spent in the presence of the most enchanting girl he had ever met in his life. The memories of her wonderful traits – her smile, her wisdom, her kiss – were enough to boost the boy's courage, and within seconds, he was staring at the fence again with determination in his eyes.

His heart having won, Miles took a few steps back from the border. After several deep breaths, he bolted forth at high speed and leapt onto the fence, then climbed to the top and hoisted himself over the railing to land noiselessly on the grass of Chaos territory. This was it: the line had literally been crossed.

"No turning back now", the hedgehog whispered. He took one last look through the fence at the safe ground he was leaving behind, then turned on his heel and ran through the trees to seek out the one house in Green Hill he had never dreamed he would even consider going near.

Several minutes later, Miles was crouching in the shadows behind a hedgerow, peering through the leaves at the large house several yards ahead. He had never seen the place himself, but the countless stories he had heard from Sonia about her spying ventures flying over Chaos territory had provided enough descriptions of the neighborhood to make him confident he had located the right house. Of course, he still had to find out for sure...

It wasn't long before his suspicions were confirmed. After staking out the place for nearly a quarter of an hour, the lavender hedgehog began to hear voices in the distance. Moments later, he caught sight of people walking up the road toward the house, a group consisting of three families. At the foot of the front path, the family of hedgehogs separated from the others and, after exchanging farewells with the bats and the echidnas, headed up the walkway and into the house while their friends continued down the road. The sight of the young girl in the black-trimmed white dress was enough to make her admirer's heart skip a beat. He had found her at last.

The moment the family disappeared into their home, Miles left his hiding place and made his way to the back of the house. There he encountered his next obstacle: a security camera monitoring the hedges bordering the backyard. As daunting as this seemed, however, he knew how to surpass it. Facing the gap in the hedgerow, the teenage boy took several steps back. After a dozen deep breaths, he suddenly rushed forth at the incredibly high speed only achievable through his Gift, running straight through the camera's field of vision without triggering any alarms.

Relieved that his stunt had actually worked, Miles paused to catch his breath, leaning back against one of the yard's many tall trees while musing on the idea that his mischievous cousin would beg him to join her group if she had any idea what sorts of tricks he was capable of. Now safely hidden in the shade, the teenager looked to his right at the windows lined in two rows across the wall of the house. He was sure one of these must lead to his crush's bedroom, but until he could catch a glimpse of her, the most he could do was watch in silence as the lights in the house flicked on and off at irregular intervals over the course of at least ten minutes. Soon enough, most of the lights were turned off, and as the last of these went out at the far right of the top floor, Miles realized that only one double window had been left with a soft glow shining over its railed balcony. Could it be the window he sought?

Gazing up at the balcony, the lavender hedgehog wondered what he should do next. Should he toss a pebble at the glass? What if it wasn't her bedroom? Would he be able to hide from her parents without getting caught? Or worse, what if it _was_ her bedroom, and she rejected him for trespassing and trying to spy on her? Perhaps he hadn't really thought this through...

Suddenly, the boy's thoughts were interrupted by sound and movement overhead: the curtains inside the window were drawn open, the panes slowly opened inward, and the next thing he knew... there she was. Reminiscent of what could only be described as an angel's silhouette, the delicate figure of Maria Hedgehog stepped out of the faintly lit room and stopped at the end of the railing to lean against the wall, all the while gazing fondly up at the stars. The knowledge that his dream girl was just within his reach rekindled the joy in the lavender hedgehog's heart, and he exhaled a deep sigh as he leaned back against the tree to gaze at her in awe...

How was it possible that she was even more beautiful in the faint light of the moon than in the full lighting at the party? But even as he thought this, Miles already knew the answer. At the dance, Maria had felt awkward and out of place, and this had shown clearly on her features, from her distant expression to her posture characteristic of one who wished to be elsewhere. Standing on her balcony now, however, was an entirely different person. No longer bound by the tedious minutia of social conduct, there was a new twinkle in her lovely blue eyes as she stood alone, gazing longingly up at the night sky with only her hopes and dreams to keep her company. This was a girl who felt she was exactly where she belonged.

As the young boy watched his romantic interest step forward to lean on the railing, it suddenly occurred to him that he was disrupting her privacy. Stargazing was a pastime she enjoyed on her own, and his presence was really an intrusion on that coveted solitude. It wasn't as if he'd received any clear sign that she wanted him there. Who was to say that any of the thoughts passing through her mind were about him? As much as he longed to call out to her, to speak to her again, it was more logical to think he had acted too boldly in coming here, and the more he considered his options, the more reasonable it seemed to just leave her be.

With a twinge of disappointment, the lavender hedgehog turned away to assess how he would go about leaving. The yard had its fair share of large trees; surely he could sneak back through their cover without being seen. Before he even took the first step, however, he was caught off guard by the sound of a voice behind him.

"Miles..."

At first he thought she had spotted him, and his heart jolted before he slowly turned around. Looking up at the balcony, however, he realized that Maria was not speaking to him, but to herself. Overcome with relief, the teenage boy withdrew into his hiding place once more to listen.

"Dear Miles", said the girl dreamily with her head in her hand, and her admirer could hear the sadness in her next words. "Why did you have to be from Control?"

Despite the empathy he felt for his crush, the lavender hedgehog couldn't help but smile. She _was_ thinking about him, and what was more, she seemed genuinely upset about the major obstacle standing in their way. It was evident she wanted to be with him, but was it as much as he wanted to be with her? The answer came almost immediately.

"If only you knew how much you've touched me tonight", Maria sighed, her gaze shifting from the stars to what Miles knew to be the horizon hiding his own faction's territory. "If you had any clue what crazy ideas you've left me thinking, would you take a chance on me, on us? Would you give up your name and your faction – and urge me to do the same – if it meant we could stand a chance of being together?"

I would, the boy thought desperately, fighting the urge to call out; he couldn't be sure if now was a good time to reveal himself. To be with you, Maria, I'd do anything...

"Why should it matter, anyway?" The teenage girl looked down at her clasped hands as she rested her forearms on the railing, a smile returning to her lips. "It's just a pair of names that stand between us. You'd still be the same person even if you weren't from Control, right? A flower doesn't change its color or scent for what it's called. Take your pick of names and factions; you'd still be that sweet boy who stole my heart tonight. Miles, leave it all behind – a faction that takes no credit for your heart – and in exchange, you can be with me."

Miles felt that his heart might burst. As he watched Maria lift her head to beam at the sky, he knew he had heard enough. He couldn't hold his tongue any longer...

"I'll hold you to that."

Startled by the sound of a male voice, the light gray hedgehog gasped and looked down into the yard to see the dark figure of another teenager moving in the shade of the trees. Before she could fully register his appearance, he spoke again.

"If you really mean that, Maria, I swear I'll give it all up right now. I'll leave my faction and change my name, if that's what it takes to be with you. From now on, consider me officially neutral."

Maria didn't know what to think. She barely even heard the boy's words. Shocked that someone had been listening in on her private thoughts, she instinctively turned and dashed for her window. Miles hurried forth as he called up to the girl in alarm.

"Wait, wait, wait!" he cried. "I'm sorry! Please don't go, not after everything you said about us, about me..."

Halfway through the open window, Maria suddenly froze, for although she hadn't yet seen the boy's face, it had just occurred to her that the sound of his voice was very familiar. The girl slowly turned around to see the lavender hedgehog standing in the moonlight, and her heart fluttered as she whispered his name in disbelief...

"Miles?"

A smile returning to his lips, the teenage boy gazed fondly up at the girl of his dreams and replied, "As long as you still want me to be."

The light gray hedgehog felt her spirits rising, but as she stepped closer to the railing, the hope she felt at her crush's presence was overshadowed by her fear.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered. "Are you crazy? It's dangerous!"

"I had to see you again", said the lavender hedgehog. "I'm sorry. This isn't like me! I don't do things like this, I swear! I don't kiss girls I barely know, and I don't sneak into strange backyards on a whim! I don't know what's happening to me! I just know I've never felt this way before, and I had to see you again."

Maria was bewildered. "How did you get here, anyway? There are motion detection cameras everywhere. Alarms would have gone off the second they spotted you!"

"Well, about that", said Miles tentatively, shifting his feet, "my Gift is in Speed. I can run extremely fast. It's something I got from my-"

But the smile faded from the boy's face, and he finished halfheartedly, "My dad."

The young girl understood the discouragement in the lavender hedgehog's voice, and she mirrored it as she muttered, "Sonic the Hedgehog."

An awkward pause followed, until the light gray hedgehog dared to continue.

"So you're _that_ Miles... That's another problem: you know if anyone from my family finds you here, they'll kill you! They won't see past your faction."

"They don't have to. As long as _you_ see more to me than that, anyone else can think whatever they want. It's all the same to me."

"Still, I'd rather they didn't know you were here. Who knows what could happen?"

"They won't see me here", said Miles confidently. "Besides, if I came all this way just to be rejected, they could do what they want to me. I wouldn't care anymore."

"Don't say that", said Maria nervously. "Speaking of which, how did you even find me? It's not like you've been on Chaos ground before... right?"

The lavender hedgehog paused. For the first time since leaving the party, he thought about the journey he had taken to his crush's house, but the more he reflected on the details, the more the entire venture seemed like a dream.

"I don't know. It's all kind of hazy. It's like I was 'guided' here or something. All I remember is being outside the clubhouse thinking I have to see that amazing girl again tonight, and the next thing I know—" He gestured at the area surrounding him. "—here I am, listening to her say she feels the same way about me as I do about her."

Despite her embarrassment, the innocence of Miles's words brought a smile to Maria's face. For the second time that night, she was grateful to the faint light for hiding the color of her blushing cheeks. Still afraid, however, she felt compelled to deny the heartfelt speech she had delivered only moments ago.

"I know what you heard me say", she said unsteadily, "but... just forget it. I... I don't know what I was saying. It's too dangerous for you to be here. Just go, before someone sees you. Please, don't risk everything for me..."

But the boy wasn't leaving before saying everything he had come to say, and his determination shone brighter in his eyes as he stood his ground.

"Please", he said softly, "I'm already here. Can't we talk, just for a minute? I just wanna talk, I swear."

The young girl didn't say anything, but instead glanced nervously to her left at the last window down the wall, making sure there was no light emitting from it. Once satisfied their conversation was still private, Maria turned back to Miles and agreed.

"Fine, we can talk, just for a minute. But not until you get out of sight of my parents' window. Come closer..."

The boy didn't need to be told twice. In the blink of an eye, he vanished from his spot in the moonlit yard to reappear in the shadows by the wall, just underneath the end of the balcony furthest from the master bedroom. He looked up at the girl standing only feet above him and smiled.

"Close enough?"

"That's fine", she laughed, then grew serious again. "Why are you here, Miles?"

"To talk about us", he said without hesitation. "I had to find out where you stand."

"I stand on the side of reason", said Maria resolutely, "and it tells me that this whole thing is a bad idea. There's nothing more to talk about. Please, just forget everything I said and go away before you get caught."

"I'm not going anywhere 'til you tell me the truth", said Miles obstinately. "I get that you're scared, but you can be honest with me. What do you really want?"

Before she could answer, a noise from behind her prompted the girl to glance nervously over her shoulder at her open window. After gesturing for the boy to wait quietly, she disappeared into her bedroom to check from the hallway that her parents' door was still closed. The lavender hedgehog wasted no time in taking advantage of her absence; the minute she left his sight, he scrambled up the two stories of the flower-laden trellis secured to the side of the house. By the time Maria returned, Miles was waiting for her on the outer edge of the balcony, leaning over the railing to greet her startled gasp with an innocent smile.

"Hi", he said casually, as if scaling the wall of a strange house and hanging off a balcony to talk to a girl in the middle of the night were things he did every day. "Is the coast clear?"

Recovering from her surprise, the teenage girl nodded.

"Yeah, some stuff on my dresser fell over, but it didn't wake my parents." She carefully closed the window, then stepped forth to grasp the railing again while facing the boy to her right. "What are you doing now? Look, you need to leave. If my dad-"

"Tell me it meant nothing", said Miles, so suddenly that Maria jumped. The light gray hedgehog stared at the lavender one in surprise.

"What?"

"Tell me it meant nothing", Miles repeated with more conviction, leaning further over the railing. "The kiss, at the party. Tell me it meant nothing to you, and I'll leave. I promise I'll go away and never bother you again, if you can look me in the eyes and tell me that you didn't feel what I felt."

Maria gripped the balcony railing a little tighter, her curiosity piqued. "And what exactly is that?"

The boy hesitated. If he was going to make his point to this girl, it was crucial that he choose the best possible wording for his answer.

"Like... you'd finally found something you didn't even know you were looking for, and now that you have, you can't bear the thought of losing it."

The light gray hedgehog didn't know how to react. As she considered those poetic words and how they reflected her own feelings so well, she listened quietly to what the lavender hedgehog had to say next.

"But if that was just me, please tell me now. I mean, if you're gonna break my heart anyway, you might as well get it over with. So what do you say, Maria? Can you look at me and honestly say that I was the only one who felt a spark tonight?"

Maria stared at Miles in silence, feeling a variety of emotions at once. Though her desire to protect him from her family urged her to drive him away, she couldn't bring herself to lie to the most charming boy she had ever met. Her mind overruled by her heart, she lowered her gaze as a shy smile graced her lips. A grin returned to the young boy's face; that was all the reply he needed.

"That's what I thought."

After glancing behind her at her parents' darkened window one last time, the teenage girl sighed in defeat and beckoned her companion to join her on the balcony.

"OK, you win", she laughed, rolling her eyes as the lavender hedgehog scrambled over the railing. "But you have to be quiet. Promise?"

Miles slid his closed thumb and forefinger across his lips and traced an X over his heart. He then leaned back against the railing to look over the girl who had captured his heart. She was still wearing the same lovely white dress, but the moonlight revealed that she was no longer wearing makeup, and somehow, if it was at all possible, this made her even more beautiful in her admirer's eyes. She was just as attractive on the outside as she was on the inside.

"Wow", he whispered, "I didn't realize just how beautiful you really are."

Maria timidly looked away. "Did you come all this way to see a pretty face?"

"A lot of girls at the party were pretty", said the lavender hedgehog seriously. "'Pretty' is something any girl can be. But you... you're something else entirely."

The young girl felt the melancholy mixing with her happiness again. As her smile faded, Maria looked back at her companion and continued in a solemn tone.

"You're right; I'm not like the other girls..."

Miles could tell where this was going, and at once took the opportunity to apologize.

"I'm so sorry I got us into this. I had no idea who you were when we met, I swear."

"Even if you didn't think I was someone important, it still never occurred to you that I might be from Chaos, especially at that party?"

"I wasn't thinking about that, honest! When I saw you, I sort of... forgot about all that stuff. Everything else just went away, and all I could think about was... you."

The teenage girl was fascinated by the boy's reply, and even more so by the honesty she could see in his eyes. As touching as his answer was, however, there was still one question that she absolutely needed to ask.

"And if you _had_ known the truth – that I'm the next leader of Chaos and I'm supposed to be your enemy someday – what would have changed?"

The lavender hedgehog smiled warmly at the light gray one, not a trace of doubt in his voice as he replied, "Nothing."

Maria raised her brow. "'Nothing'?"

"Nothing", Miles repeated, "except that I would have apologized to you straight out, and begged you not to judge me by my faction, like everyone else."

The girl couldn't believe her ears. Never had she thought she would hear such pacifistic words from a boy from Control, much less the leaders' son himself.

"So... you really don't care who I am?"

"On the contrary: the only thing I care about is who you are. What doesn't matter to me is everything else around you. When I say I don't care about the war between Chaos and Control, I mean it. This isn't a boy telling a lie to impress a girl; this is a boy telling the truth to the most incredible girl he's ever met in his life. I just wanna be with you, Maria. Do you... wanna be with me?"

The light gray hedgehog had anticipated this question, and she slowly stepped back from her admirer, as though fearful of his words.

"Why did you have to be so wonderful?" she whispered. A weak smile returned to the teenage boy's expression.

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"It's not", said Maria quickly. "It just... complicates things, that's all. No matter how much we say we don't care about everything else, it doesn't change anything. You're still the next leader of Control, and I'm still the next in line to take over Chaos. How can we possibly be together?"

"Are you saying you wish I'd lived up to stereotype instead?"

The young girl said nothing, instead turning away to gaze solemnly toward the west horizon. Miles took her silence as a cue to ask a more sensitive question.

"Why do I feel like you're trying to push me away?"

"What are you talking about?" The light gray hedgehog faced the lavender one again with a puzzled expression.

"Well, you keep telling me to leave, you say there's no way we can be together, and you even move away from me, like... you don't want me close to you. What's going on? Are you really that scared?"

The young boy watched as his crush glanced at her feet before fixing her blue eyes on him once more. Despite her anxiety, he was relieved to see her smile weakly.

"I just... don't want you to get the wrong impression", Maria admitted timidly. "I don't want you to think I'm, you know... easy."

"'Easy'?!" There was a hint of amusement in Miles's green eyes as he gestured at the wall behind him. "I jumped a 6-foot fence to get onto Chaos ground, snuck my way through a neighborhood I've never seen before, almost broke the sound barrier to pass a security camera, and climbed two stories up to your balcony just so I could _talk_ to you! If you think all that was easy, I don't even wanna know what your idea of hard-to-get is!"

The teenage girl laughed softly. As she slowly approached the boy again, he continued in a more meaningful tone.

"I don't think you're easy, and I really like that about you. That's exactly my point: I would do all those things a dozen times over again just for the chance to be with you. In 16 years, I have _never_ met a girl as amazing as you before, so I figure you must be one in a million. Look, sparks like we felt tonight don't happen every day. They come once in a lifetime, maybe twice if we're lucky. And you don't just give up on a chance like that. So I ask you again, Maria: would you take that chance with me?"

By the time this question left the boy's lips, the girl was standing close enough to leave no doubt in his mind that she was about to speak the truth.

"Of course I would, Miles. There's nothing I want more than to be with you, but-"

"No, no", said the lavender hedgehog in as quiet a tone as his excitement would allow. "Don't say anything else; that's all I needed to hear. We can figure the rest out later. I say if you and I wanna be together, then let's be together!"

Having raised his hand while interjecting, Miles lowered it now to offer it to Maria. The light gray hedgehog shifted her gaze from her admirer's hopeful eyes to his open palm, and after a minute's hesitation, she lifted her own hand to tenderly place it in his. His fingers closing gently around hers made her heart race, and as she looked up into his eyes once more, the grin spreading across her face betrayed the happiness she could no longer contain.

"This is so crazy", she breathed as her companion matched her joyful expression, "...but OK. Let's be together. But first, I need you to do something for me."

"Anything", said the teenage boy without hesitation, and dropped to his knees in a show of satirical melodrama. "What do you want me to do? Renounce my name? Leave my faction? ...Anything else you said before? Consider it done."

With a soft laugh and a roll of her eyes, the young girl lowered herself to his level and looked him in the eyes as she gently squeezed the hand still holding hers.

"Don't be silly; I don't really want you to give up your life for me. All I want is a promise: that the boy I met tonight is the same boy I get to see every week from now on. Promise me that I get to be with the boy I was talking to before, and I promise I'll do everything I can to be the girl he deserves."

Overcome with exhilaration, Miles lifted Maria's hand and softly kissed her fingers. "I promise."

After a quiet moment of gazing into each other's eyes, the teenagers rose to their feet and leaned on the railing to look out over the yard side by side.

"So what happens now?" said the light gray hedgehog. "How do we make this work?"

The lavender hedgehog paused as he stared straight ahead into the night. Looking in the direction of the high school campus, an idea suddenly occurred to him.

"Lily."

"I'm sorry?"

"My sister. I bet she can help us. She's really smart, and even better, she's totally against the war between Chaos and Control. If anyone'll know what to do, it's her."

"OK..." Maria was intrigued. "So how do we work this all out?"

Miles turned to face her so she would be clear on his instructions. "When you start school on Monday, make a note of where the library is. At the end of the day, go alone to that building and find the study in that hallway. That's where Lily gives private tutoring. I'll be waiting for you in that room. We can talk to my sister and figure things out from there."

The young girl nodded. It sounded like a decent plan, and she was confident they'd be able to pull it off.

"All right, I'll meet you there on Monday. Count on it." She smiled and reached out to touch the boy's face. "Now you _really_ need to leave..."

Disappointed to hear those dreaded words, the lavender hedgehog frowned, then grabbed the fingers touching his cheek and turned his head to kiss her palm.

"Fine, if that's what you want..."

"Don't do that. You'd know I'd stay here with you all night if I could."

"Maybe someday..."

The conversation having come to an end, the light gray hedgehog dropped her hand from her companion's face and bid him goodnight while stepping backwards toward her window. Miles raised his arms in a shrug of confusion.

"Is that it?" he said disappointedly.

"What else do you want?" said Maria. The young boy took a bold step forward.

"I want a promise from you too", he whispered, "that tonight isn't just a dream or a trick of some kind, that I'm not gonna wake up tomorrow and find that none of this was real. Please, promise me that I do get to be your boyfriend from now on, 'cause honestly, the idea that this whole night was just as unreal as it seemed is enough to scare the hell out of me."

With a smile, the teenage girl leaned forth and kissed her admirer on the cheek.

"Truth be told, it scares me too... But I promise this is for real. Make no mistake, Miles; you've got yourself a girlfriend."

It was the perfect end to a perfect night. After kissing her hand one last time, the lavender hedgehog moved away from the light gray one to the end of the balcony. Before jumping the railing, however, he paused to face her again, suddenly remembering one more thing he had yet to learn about her...

"Oh, I almost forgot! Now that I know you're from Chaos, what's your ability?"

A brief pause followed as the young girl glanced awkwardly at her feet.

"Actually... I don't know yet. That's kind of why I'm going to school now; my parents think being around other kids my age will help me unlock it."

"Well, good luck figuring it out", said the boy, and added with a wink, "Of course, if it's making boys believe in magic, I think you've already found it."

Blushing profusely, the light gray hedgehog approached the railing while the lavender hedgehog hoisted himself over it and stepped onto the trellis. Before descending, he paused to look up at her. The moonlight illuminated her face in the most flattering way, and so enthralled was he by her beauty and charm that he couldn't resist the rush of courage taking him over yet again. In one fluid motion, Miles tightened his grip on the railing, kicked back against the wall, pulled himself up, and touched his lips to hers.

For the second time that night, Maria found herself surrendering to the passion of an unexpected kiss, feeling the familiar rush in her heart as she returned the gesture for several seconds. After parting lips, the young hedgehogs looked into each other's eyes in awe.

"What was that?" the girl whispered. A grin spread across the boy's face.

"Just checking something..."

"...And...?"

"...It wasn't a fluke."

Maria couldn't recall a time when she had ever felt so happy. Her heart still fluttering, she watched as Miles descended the trellis and set foot on the grass of her yard once more. Before he could head for the entrance he had taken earlier, however, the light gray hedgehog called out to him, prompting him to look up again.

"Miles, what time do I meet you on Monday?"

"Lily usually stays in her study 'til 6", said the lavender hedgehog. "Try to get there around 4; I'll be there by then for sure."

"Then I'll be there at 4. Monday can't come soon enough..."

The teenagers bid each other goodnight again before Miles proceeded toward his previous hiding spot, where he planned to speed through the hedges to pass the security camera undetected. Halfway across the yard, however, he was stopped yet again by an abrupt call from behind him.

"Miles!"

Alarmed, the teenage boy turned sharply around and brought a finger to his lips. Maria quickly covered her mouth and glanced down the wall at the master bedroom's window before facing her companion again. The sight of him standing in the moonlight left her stunned, and after a brief pause, she smiled in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry; I forgot what I was gonna say..."

The lavender hedgehog approached the wall again, a roguish smile on his lips as he leaned against the trellis and looked up at the light gray one.

"I can stay here 'til you remember..."

"That's not fair! You're too cute! As long as you stand there, I'll be too distracted to remember..."

"Then I'll just have to stand here forever, won't I?"

Maria's gentle laugh was music to Miles's ears. The teenage girl pointed at the corner opposite her parent's end of the wall, the side of the house her admirer had been watching when she arrived home.

"There's a blind spot. The camera on that side doesn't trigger. Rex and Angelica use it to sneak in and out after curfew."

The boy glanced behind him, then turned back to the girl and nodded with a smile. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." The light gray hedgehog smiled back. "Be careful out there, Miles. May the stars keep you and guide you safely home."

The lavender hedgehog blew a kiss to the enchanting girl who had captivated him.

"Rest easy, my dear, for tonight the stars smile on us."

"Let's only hope they'll continue to do so."

"They will; I know it. Now and forever."

Maria touched her fingers to her lips to return the gesture, and with that, Miles walked away to the corner of the house, glancing repeatedly back at her with a smile until he was finally out of sight. As she watched him disappear into the night, she grinned broadly at the thought of the bright future that lay ahead of them, for she was just beginning to realize the extent of the joy he had brought into her life, and how for the first time in 16 years, she found herself truly believing in the power of the stars and the magic embedded in a kiss.


	5. Secrets

Chapter 5 – Secrets

It had been such an incredible night, so full of surprises and life-changing experiences, that by the time he finally made it across town and back home, Miles still couldn't believe it really happened. As he snuck into the house and cautiously made his way to his bedroom, he continuously thought back on his last encounter with Maria, and his mind was so active with ideas about what the future might have in store for them that almost an hour passed from the time he collapsed onto his bed to the time he fell asleep. The image of the stars through his window stayed with him through the night and well into the morning. It was only when the clock on his nightstand read 40 minutes to noon that he finally fell back into reality again. Having caught sight of the late hour, the lavender hedgehog jolted out of bed in alarm and rushed out of his room just in time to see his sister passing his door on her way to the staircase, a stack of books in one arm and a satchel hanging from her shoulder.

"Miles!" Lily exclaimed, stopping in her tracks at the sight of her brother. "There you are!"

"Hey, Lily", said the teenage boy, smiling despite the girl's expression of shock. "Good to see you too."

"Where have you been? You disappeared last night! What happened to you?"

"I wasn't caught, if that's what you were worried about."

"It was." The lilac hedgehog approached her twin, glancing at either end of the hallway with each step, before continuing in a low whisper. "I was afraid someone from Chaos got you. Imagine having to explain _that_ to Mom and Dad."

"That's what you were worried about?" Miles laughed. "What Mom and Dad would think? What about your only brother's life?"

"Shut up", said Lily, gently smacking the lavender hedgehog on the shoulder before wrapping her free arm around him. "You know you scared me half to death?"

"Sorry", said the boy sincerely, returning his sister's hug. "I shouldn't have run off like that. I promise it won't happen again."

The teenage girl released her brother and looked him in the eyes once more.

"Seriously, where were you last night? I haven't seen you since we left the party. What time did you even get home?"

Miles hesitated to scan the hall as Lily had a minute ago. Although the corridor was empty save for them, he could clearly hear their parents' voices speaking downstairs.

"I don't know when I got home, actually", he admitted. "I completely lost track of time... But I can't explain right now, not here."

"OK..." The lilac hedgehog raised an eyebrow. "Is something going on?"

"Kind of", said the lavender hedgehog. "I really need to talk to you, Lily..."

The young girl didn't care for the serious tone of her brother's voice, but as much as she would have liked to lead him back to her room and discuss whatever matter he had in mind, she felt compelled to draw his attention to the items she was carrying.

"Well, I was just on my way out", she said, indicating the books still in her left arm. "I need to take these back to the school and organize the study for tomorrow. But you're more than welcome to come with me, if you want."

In truth, this was exactly what Miles wanted. He knew Lily had the rare privilege of access to the high school campus on Sundays, so accompanying her to the tutoring study today would guarantee the privacy that was crucial for the topic he planned to discuss with her.

"Yeah, OK. Let me just throw a shirt on."

In a few minutes, the teenager changed into casual wear and returned to the hallway to take the books from his sister's arms. Together, the siblings walked down the stairs and into the main hall, where they crossed paths with Sonic and Amy, who were on their way to the kitchen.

"Well, good morning, sleepyhead!" said the pink hedgehog to her son, stopping to face the twins. "Or should I say good afternoon?"

"Sorry, Mom", said the young boy, avoiding eye contact with his parents.

"Out late last night, were you?" said the blue hedgehog to both his children. Lily and Miles exchanged glances before the sister of the pair replied.

"Yeah, you know Sonia; it's not a party unless you leave after 2 in the morning."

"Well, as long as that cousin of yours isn't getting you into trouble..."

The potential awkward pause that could have followed Sonic's words was avoided when his wife spoke immediately after him.

"Miles", she said, furrowing her brow at her son, "there's something... different about you today."

In contrast to the subtle change in his expression, the lavender hedgehog's heart jolted at his mother's words. His unease was justified; not only was Amy's Gift in the Mind class, but her focus was intuition, an ability that gave her incredible accuracy when divining hidden truths about people, especially those closest to her. Nevertheless, the teenager managed to keep his voice calm as he replied.

"'Different'? What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure. There's just a different air about you. It's almost like..."

"...Like what?" Despite his anxiety, Miles was curious to know exactly what his mother was seeing in him.

"Like... something happened to lift your spirits. What's going on, sweetheart?"

"Nothing", said the teenager, masking the lie with an innocent shrug and a smile. "We went to a party last night, and it was fun. No big deal."

"I suppose", said the pink hedgehog, though she didn't seem too convinced. Fortunately for the boy, his sister was quick to change the subject.

"Miles is coming to school with me, to return these books and fix up the study."

"School on a Sunday?" Sonic was confused. "You sure about that, son?"

The lavender hedgehog shrugged. He was finding it increasingly difficult to keep suspicions at a low.

"Why not? Lily needs help, and I don't have plans. Besides, we have fun together."

"Don't you at least wanna eat something before you go?" said Amy. Both her children shook their heads.

"We can grab something on the way", her daughter replied. "The sooner we get there, the more time we'll have to work."

Miles feared a discussion might follow, but to his relief, his mother chose not to make a fuss.

"OK, if you're sure..."

"You kids have fun, then", said the blue hedgehog cheerfully, and with that, the twins exchanged farewells with their parents. Within a minute, the teenagers were out the door and on their way to the campus of Emerald High.

An hour later, after passing through town and stopping briefly to eat, Miles and Lily walked down the corridor of the school library building, the sister of the pair now speaking to her brother in a tone of mixed confusion and annoyance.

"I still don't get why you couldn't tell me over lunch", she said as she pulled a small heart keychain out of her satchel.

"Because it's big news", said the boy. "Really big news. Like, ground-shattering news! And I can't risk anyone overhearing when I tell you."

The twins stopped before a door bearing an inner sign that read "Unavailable". Lily used her key to unlock it, and she and Miles stepped into the room.

The tutoring study was an average-sized space, large enough to hold a handful of desks and a few bookshelves holding numerous textbooks. A large chalkboard hung on the wall behind the main desk, and the floor was empty, as the remaining desks and chairs were all lined against one wall.

"You can just put the books on the big desk", said the lilac hedgehog as she closed the door. "I'll sort them on the shelves."

The lavender hedgehog obliged, walking over to the desk by the opposite wall and placing the stack of books on it. At Lily's request, he then set about moving the smaller desks to the middle of the floor while she approached the main desk to hang her bag on the chair and start sorting the books.

"So, Miles", said the young girl as she grabbed the top half of the stack, "what's this 'ground-shattering' news you wanted to tell me?"

The lilac hedgehog moved the books to a desk her brother had just placed in the center of the room. It was then that she noticed him standing on the other side with a smile on his face, a sight that piqued her interest.

"What's with you?"

Miles broke into a broad grin, staring at his sister with more happiness than she had ever seen in his eyes.

"Lily, you remember what we were talking about yesterday, that feeling I've been getting for the last few weeks?"

"Yeah..."

"Well, I finally figured it out, and I was right: it _was_ telling me something's gonna happen..." He sighed, a note of pure serenity in his voice. "I met someone."

The teenage girl gasped in surprise before breaking into an equally broad smile.

"Miles, that's fantastic!" she exclaimed, hurrying around the desk to embrace the boy. "Tell me everything!"

As the lilac hedgehog returned to her task, her brother related his good fortune from the night before.

"She's the most amazing girl- person I've ever met. She's so smart, and fun, and down-to-earth, and..."

"Pretty?"

"Oh, she's beautiful", the lavender hedgehog laughed, "but there's way more to her than that. She's amazing on every level. She's just so... _real_, you know?"

Lily grabbed a few math books from the stack and made her way over to one of the bookshelves, while Miles continued moving the desks from the wall to the open floor.

"I gotta say, I've never seen you like this before. This may well be the best thing that's ever happened to you..."

"Yeah, I think it just might be..."

"Well, she sounds great", the young girl said with a smile. "So I assume you met her at the party, right?"

"Yeah", the teenage boy admitted, then added tentatively, "And afterwards too."

The lilac hedgehog paused in the middle of placing a book on the shelf and looked over her shoulder to stare at her twin in disbelief.

"Is that why you disappeared right after we left?"

The lavender hedgehog bit his lower lip in a show of guilt. He felt bad that his sister had worried for his safety the night before, especially since he had witnessed her come dangerously close to panicking.

"Yes, I'm sorry", he said earnestly, "but you gotta understand. I really couldn't tell you guys where I was going."

"Why not?" said Lily, returning to the small desk to take the remaining books.

"First of all, because you would have started asking questions and Sonia would have made fun of me or bragged about how she was right to bring me to that party."

"So what? You could have at least let us know you were planning on wandering off."

"Trust me, Lily, it's better that you didn't know."

As she sorted the books into the science section of another shelf, the teenage girl mused on a curious thought that had just come to mind.

"So Mom was right after all", she laughed. "Are you planning on telling her and Dad that you have a girlfriend now?"

The boy placed the last of the desks in the row closest to the chalkboard. He exhaled a sigh as he gave his sister a serious look.

"That brings me to the 'second-of-all'. I really don't think it's a good idea to tell Mom and Dad about this girl I met. I don't think they'd be very happy..."

"What are you talking about?" said Lily as she walked back to the large desk. "Mom and Dad have been worried about you for a while. Honestly, I think they'd be thrilled to see you this happy!"

"I doubt it."

"Come on, Miles, you don't give them enough credit!" The lilac hedgehog moved the rest of the stack to the small desk at which her brother was standing and began sorting the history books from the geography books. "Is this about Dad pressuring you to take an interest in leading Control? Because I hardly think he'll consider a new girl in your life too much of a threat to his cause."

"Oh wow, you have no idea..."

"A distraction, maybe, but not a real threat."

"Lily..."

"I mean, frankly, the only reason I can think why Mom and Dad would have a problem with you having a girlfriend is if she were from..."

But at that moment, Lily's voice trailed off, for she had just looked up to see her brother sporting an expression of the clearest anxiety. The lilac hedgehog felt the smile slowly vanish from her face; it was only too obvious what Miles was hiding.

"No..."

The lavender hedgehog nodded slowly. His sister began to shake her head.

"No, Miles, you didn't..."

"I did..."

"It can't be so..."

"It be so, Lily. It be very so."

The teenage girl turned away to pace once to the large desk and back. Returning to her spot in front of her brother, she finally dared to whisper the dreaded question, as though voicing it too loudly might bring a curse upon the entire town...

"She's from Chaos?!"

The young boy stared earnestly at his sister and replied without blinking, so she would know he was telling the truth.

"Yes, she is, but-"

"No!" She didn't want to hear it; the thought of how much her brother was willing to risk for a girl from the rival faction was too much for her to bear. "Miles, I'm sorry, but you can't pursue this!"

"She's not like the rest of Chaos, I swear!"

"It doesn't matter! Do you know how bad this could be for Green Hill? Think about it: the heir to Control involved with a girl from Chaos? It's a recipe for disaster!"

"Lily, please..."

"Seriously, the only way this could be any worse is if she were... the daughter of the _leaders_ of Chaos or something!"

Once again, Miles fell silent as he donned another expression of guilt, this time with an additional nervous biting of his right forefinger. Lily sighed in exasperation.

"Are you kidding me?!"

The lavender hedgehog said nothing, frozen in place with a pleading look in his eyes. The lilac hedgehog closed her own and brought her fingers to her temples, speaking again in a tone that betrayed the immense effort it was costing her to keep calm.

"Miles, please tell me she's not the daughter of the leaders of Chaos."

The young girl slowly opened her eyes, hoping to find a comforting answer on her brother's face. No such luck.

"Well..." said the boy with an awkward shrug. His twin dropped her hands and raised her voice.

"Oh my god!"

The teenager took a deep breath. She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep from strangling her brother.

"Maria Hedgehog?" she said incredulously. "_That's_ the girl you met last night?!"

"Yes", Miles replied, a smile returning to his lips, "and she's incredible..."

"What the hell were you thinking?" cried Lily. "Things just went from terrible to catastrophic! Are you crazy?!"

"Crazy about her..."

"Does she know who you are, or at least that you're from Control?"

"Yes, and it doesn't matter to her, either. We don't care."

"Well, congratulations: you're the only ones in Green Hill who don't."

Lily started pacing nervously, muttering incessantly as her growing panic caught up with her.

"Oh, this is so bad... You're gonna get caught, and everyone in school is gonna hate you... And Mom's gonna cry, and Dad's gonna have a heart attack, and Shadow's gonna come after you, and-" She gasped. "Oh, I'm gonna be an only child!"

The lavender hedgehog stepped around the desk and grabbed his sister by the shoulders, stopping her in her tracks.

"Lily, chill!" He was halfway between laughing and begging. "Come on, two minutes ago you were saying this could be the best thing that's ever happened to me!"

"That was before I knew the 'best thing' was the daughter of Dad's archrival!" said the lilac hedgehog. "Miles, do you have _any_ idea how dangerous this is?"

"But that's what makes it even more exciting!"

"I'm serious! You know Dad will kill you if he finds out about this. And that's only if _her_ dad doesn't find out and kill you first!"

"Then we won't let them find out." Miles folded his arms confidently.

"Oh yeah?" Lily was skeptical. "And how exactly do you plan on keeping this a secret?"

The boy shuffled his feet awkwardly, choosing his next words carefully.

"Yeah, about that... that's kind of why I needed to talk to you about this whole thing. We really need your help, Lily."

"What do you mean, 'we'?" The girl raised her brow. "She knows about me?"

"I told her you could help us, that you'd know what to do... so she's gonna meet us both here on Monday after school."

"What?!"

"You're gonna love her!" said the lavender hedgehog. "She's really cool, I promise!"

"I'm sure she is", said the lilac hedgehog, "but that's not the problem. Miles, you know almost no one from Chaos comes to the tutoring study, just because I'm from Control. Don't you think it'll look a little suspicious if their future leader comes here right after her first day of school?"

"Not if she's a bright student", said Miles optimistically, "which she is. You'll probably start getting more Chaos students in here because of her!"

"As wonderful as that would be", Lily continued, "I still think this whole thing is crazy and downright suicidal. I can't be a part of this, I'm sorry."

The tone in the young girl's voice suggested that the conversation was over. Her brother, however, was not prepared to give up so easily. Before she could take a single step forward, he grabbed her by the shoulders again and looked her in the eye.

"Think about it, Lily: Maria and I are the first people from Chaos and Control to get along in... who knows how many years! If we can somehow spin this into a _good_ thing, maybe more people will start to see eye to eye, and before we know it, we'll finally see peace in Green Hill!"

The lilac hedgehog suddenly froze. As she considered her twin's suggestion, a light began to shine in her green eyes, and before long, she was gazing absently past him with a growing smile on her face.

"You're right", she said, getting excited. "This is a golden opportunity! If we play this right, we could totally make this work in everyone's favor! No more fighting, no more pointless anger! We can finally live in a peaceful town."

"So you'll help us?" said the lavender hedgehog, a grin returning to his face.

"I'm not saying it'll be easy", Lily warned, "but if this is what it takes to bring peace to Green Hill... then I guess it's worth the risk. Count me in."

Miles was so happy that he let out a shout of triumph before throwing his arms around his sister. "Thank you, Lily! I knew we could count on you! You're the best sister in the world!"

"Yeah, I know", the girl laughed, rolling her eyes as she returned her brother's hug. "But you owe me, big time."

As the siblings released each other, Lily looked Miles in the eye once more.

"Seriously, this is gonna be pretty tough to pull off", she said earnestly. "The future leaders of two rival factions dating is not something people in this town are prepared to take lightly. Are you sure you wanna go through with this?"

The teenage boy gave his twin a look that seemed to ask if she was kidding.

"Maria's the first person to ever make me feel this way. I was barely ready to believe in life before I met her. So yes, I'm sure."

The lilac hedgehog smiled at her brother, then walked past him to take the books she had left on the desk.

"I just hope we won't all live to regret this", said Lily as she carried the books to the shelf. The lavender hedgehog smirked.

"We won't", said Miles confidently, smiling to himself as his thoughts fell once more on the girl of his dreams. "Everything'll work out, you'll see."

* * *

On Monday morning, Maria Hedgehog arrived at Emerald High to a chorus of welcomes from students and staff alike. The light gray hedgehog had anticipated a warm reception, but nothing could have prepared her for the amount of attention she was about to get at her new school. It wasn't long before she started feeling like a celebrity: wherever she went, people were eager to catch a glimpse of the girl who would someday lead one of the great factions of Green Hill, and whose existence had, until recently, been shrouded in mystery. All through the day, her teachers made a point of requesting respect for her from the other students, while her classmates continuously tried to ask her questions as she made her way through the hallways between classes. The young girl was thankful to have her cousin and her best friend acting as her bodyguards, but at the same time, she was worried that their protectiveness would make her rendezvous with Miles much more difficult...

Rex and Angelica served not only as Maria's protectors, but as her tutors, filling her in on every tip to surviving at Emerald High that only the students knew.

"The teachers will tell you to sit wherever you want", said the faint gray bat as the three friends walked into homeroom that morning, "but that's because they don't acknowledge the 'set order of things'. Only kids from Chaos sit on the right side of the room from the teacher's view, and only kids from Control sit on the left."

"What about the kids who are neutral?" asked the light gray hedgehog, who noticed the students filing past them were taking care to avoid seats in the middle.

"Nobody's neutral", said Rex. "By the time you get to high school, you have to choose what faction you wanna side with, even if you don't belong to it. That's just the way it is."

As disappointed as she was to hear this, Maria soon realized her friends were right. Despite the teachers' invitations for the students to seat themselves freely, every class they entered that morning started with the same routine of voluntary segregation, complete with the occasional cold glance exchanged between teenagers from opposing sides as they crossed paths. Because of this, the light gray hedgehog always found herself sitting on the same side of the room with the bat and the echidna, situated in a group of their friends while now and then stealing a glance toward the opposite wall at the lavender hedgehog sitting near a lilac hedgehog and a two-tailed fox. As if this separation from her secret boyfriend weren't bad enough, the teenage girl had yet to learn even more important lessons about Emerald High...

At lunch, Maria moved through the cafeteria line without looking very far to either side of her, as per her friends' instructions. She followed Angelica between the tables in the middle of the floor, trying to ignore all the turning heads as her friend explained the long-established layout of the hall.

"Chaos is on this side", said the bat, indicating the tables to her right, "and Control is on the other side. After that, everyone mostly sits in groups: jocks, brainiacs, preppy girls, whatever. You sit with me and Rex in the middle; that's where the popular kids are, like the cheerleaders and athletes."

As if on cue, Rex walked past the girls toward one of the center tables, where several other boys from the football team were already seated. Before Maria and Angelica could catch up, however, they were surprised by a teenage boy passing them in the opposite direction, who walked just close enough to bump shoulders with the light gray hedgehog. The next thing she knew, the young girl was looking into the emerald green eyes of none other than Miles Hedgehog.

"I'm sorry!" he said, stopping in his tracks in unison with the girls. "Are you OK?"

Maria stared at the boy for several seconds before remembering where they were. Snapping back to her senses, she nodded and indicated the tray she was still carrying, from which no food had been spilled.

"Yes, it's all right", she replied timidly, breaking eye contact with the lavender hedgehog for fear of revealing how well she really knew him.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" said Angelica indignantly. "Do you even know who you're talking to?"

"Of course", said Miles politely, ignoring the bat's coarse tone as he kept his gaze on the light gray hedgehog. "You're the new girl. Welcome to Emerald High! I'm Miles. Nice to meet you."

With a smile, the teenage boy extended his hand to the girl. Before she could accept the gesture, her friend interjected in a low tone.

"Maria, you don't have to talk to him. It's bad enough that he crashed your party; you shouldn't worry about giving him attention he doesn't deserve." Angelica turned to the boy and spoke to him in a resentful tone. "She's not just the new girl; she's the future leader of Chaos, and you'd do well to stay out of her way from now on."

"Angie, please", whispered Maria, who by now was aware of the eerie silence that had swept over the cafeteria as every head in the room turned to watch the scene unfolding in the middle of the floor. "It's OK, really..."

As the light gray hedgehog glanced around her at the watching crowd, it suddenly occurred to her that this was the perfect opportunity to initiate a showing of peace between Chaos and Control. Catching on to the lavender hedgehog's intentions, the teenage girl looked back at the hand he was holding out to her, then balanced her tray on one arm and extended her free hand to shake his.

"I'm Maria", she said with an equally kind smile, locking eyes with the boy once more. "It's nice to meet you too, Miles."

The sight of these two shaking hands left the whole cafeteria in shock. No one had ever imagined they would witness any two people from Chaos and Control being so civil to one another, much less these two. The faint gray bat was especially thrown off by this display, as was the red echidna sitting some feet away.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Angelica. "Just ignore him!"

At that moment, Rex hurried over to the group, reaching his girlfriend's side just as the two hedgehogs released each other's hand.

"Can we help you with something?" he said threateningly to the lavender hedgehog. Miles raised his hands in a show of peace.

"That's OK", he said calmly. "Just being friendly. I don't want any trouble."

"Actually, yeah", interjected a female voice from behind the lavender hedgehog, and a moment later, Sonia Prower appeared at her cousin's side. "There is something you can help us with. How 'bout letting your friend know who _she's_ talking to?"

"Sonia, be nice", the lavender hedgehog muttered, his heart sinking as the vixen supported her arm on his right shoulder.

"She knows exactly who she's talking to", said the echidna, "the thoughtless jerk who crashed a Chaos party, which, by the way, was meant for her. But you already knew that, didn't you, Prower? You were there too. In fact, I bet it was all your idea. Typical of you Control kids to be so reckless and disrespectful."

"At least _we_ know how to have some fun! Seriously, you guys from Chaos are too tightly wound. Learn to loosen up once in a while! No offense to you, of course", the fox added, turning to Maria. "Your friends may be uptight, but I'll get to know you a little better before I make that call about you. Not that my hopes are high anyone else from Chaos could be much different than Echidna..."

"That's enough", Miles interrupted, and pointed toward a couple of tables several feet away, where a lilac hedgehog was seated near the rest of Sonia's clique. "Go sit with Lily. I'll be there in a minute."

Sparing one last smirk at her rival and a wink at the light gray hedgehog, the vixen stepped back and walked away to rejoin her friends. The lavender hedgehog watched her leave, then turned back to his secret girlfriend with a smile.

"Ignore her", he said kindly. "She likes to act tough, but she's harmless."

"Hardly", snapped Rex before his friends could reply. "Why don't you get lost, Hedgehog? Leave my cousin alone!"

"Rex, please", said Maria, but Miles stepped back and showed his open palms again. After nodding to the bat and the echidna, he looked the light gray hedgehog in the eyes once more and waved.

"I'll see you around", he said, and with that, he turned and walked away to join his twin sister. As the spectators returned to their conversations and her cousin headed back to the athletes' table, Maria lingered to watch the lavender hedgehog take a seat, still in awe over his clever ruse. Just as Angelica turned away, Miles looked over his shoulder and winked at his girlfriend. With a smile, the light gray hedgehog turned and followed her best friend to the cheerleaders' table, all the while fighting to contain her amusement as the bat inquired about the incident.

"What was that?" she asked incredulously. "Why would you talk to him? You know he's the next leader of Control!"

"He was just introducing himself", Maria replied casually. "I didn't wanna be rude."

"Who cares? Even he would get if you snubbed him. It's not like anyone expects you two to get along."

"Exactly", said the light gray hedgehog, setting her tray down beside her friend's. "How would it look if he were being friendly to me and I ignored him? I can't let him show me up like that. I have to be nice too; it's only fair."

At this, Angelica's baby blue eyes lit up, and a sly smile returned to her face as she took a seat.

"Oh, I see what you did there", she laughed. "Smart girl! You're gonna be a great leader someday."

The hedgehog did her best to ignore the guilt she felt at misleading her friend, and spent the rest of the lunch hour in conversation with the same girls she had met at her party two days ago. She was only partially present at her own table, however, for her thoughts constantly drifted back to the boy sitting in the other half of the room with his sister, and she knew he must be thinking of her too...

The lunch break passed too slowly for Maria's taste, as did the rest of the school day. So anxious was she to meet with her boyfriend that the minutes seemed to inch by at half their normal speed, so that it seemed like several extra hours passed before the last bell rang at the end of the day. As she stashed her Language Arts book in her backpack, however, she found that her chance to leave would still be delayed a few more minutes, for before she could follow her friend to the door, she was approached by Eugene Princeton.

"Hey, Maria", he said, stopping before her with a smirk. "You doing anything later?"

The light gray hedgehog felt the cold touch of dread on her insides. The last thing she wanted was to miss her meeting with a boy she genuinely liked because of a boy in whom she had no interest.

"Actually, yes", she said as politely as her annoyance would allow. "I was gonna go out with Angelica and her friends right after school."

"Well, how 'bout later this week?" he asked. Clearly, he wasn't prepared to give up.

Maria glanced over the cat's shoulder at the faint gray bat, who was watching with a look that suggested she wanted her friend to accept the offer.

"Sorry", said the hedgehog, dismissing her best friend's meaningful gaze as she looked Eugene in his icy gray eyes again. "I really need to focus on my studies right now. Can't afford to disappoint my parents, you know?"

In the pause that followed, the teenage girl hoped like mad that the boy wouldn't insist. He didn't.

"All right... but I'm not quitting on you yet. I still wanna take you out sometime."

Maria nodded once, and with that, Eugene turned and walked back to his own desk, leaving the girl to follow her friend out the classroom door.

"What's with you?" said Angelica when they were in the hallway again. "Why are you still refusing him? Don't you at least wanna give him a chance?"

"It's like I told him", said Maria, "I have to focus on my studies right now."

"Please, your parents are always proud of you! I don't think they'd have a problem with you going on a date once in a while, especially with a boy as respectable as Eugene Princeton. But hey", the bat added at the look on her friend's face, "that's your call. If you don't wanna date anyone right now, that's fine."

The light gray hedgehog blushed, but thankfully her friend didn't notice; having just caught up with Rex, Angelica was distracted greeting him with a kiss. Several minutes later, the group had joined the couple's friends outside the school's front doors. After bidding his cousin and his girlfriend goodbye, the echidna left with his Chaos group while the hedgehog and the bat headed toward the center of town with the latter's cheerleading clique. Before the school was even out of sight, however, Maria put into action the escape plan she'd been formulating since their last class.

"Oh, I just remembered something!" she exclaimed, stopping in her tracks and prompting the others to follow suit. "I need to go back."

"Why?" said Angelica, frowning in puzzlement. Guilty over fibbing to her best friend, the light gray hedgehog had to will herself to proceed with her ruse.

"I had some questions I wanted to ask the principal."

"You can't ask them tomorrow? Come on, it was your first day at a real school! We gotta celebrate!"

"I know, but it's really important, and I don't wanna put it off." Though her face remained calm, her heart raced while she hoped her friend would agree...

"OK... You want me to wait, or go with you or something?"

"No, it's OK", said the teenage hedgehog. "It might take a while. Why don't you guys go ahead? I'll catch up with you later."

"You sure?" The bat raised a brow as her friend began to step backwards.

"I'm sure, thank you. Go on, I'll meet you in town."

After giving her friend directions to the ice cream parlor, Angelica and the other girls continued on their way, leaving Maria alone to hurry back to the school. The second she reentered the main hallway, she glanced at the clock high on the wall. Three fifty-five; she was almost late already. Directions already clear in her mind, the young girl hurried down the hall against the flow of students and headed for the library building, her heart fluttering with every step closer to the boy of her dreams.

* * *

Miles sat at the tutoring study's front desk, tapping his fingers nervously as he stared at the clock over the chalkboard. Meanwhile, Lily stood on its other side, sorting writing materials into its drawers while repeatedly glancing from her brother to the clock to the door.

"Miles", she sighed when the minute hand was almost touching the 1, "I hate to say it, but we don't know she's actually coming today..."

"She'll be here", said the lavender hedgehog without taking his eyes off the clock.

"I understand she made you a promise, but it's gonna be really hard for her to get away! She's always surrounded by her friends, and they'll probably wanna hang out right after school, not to mention her parents may want her home by a certain hour-"

"She'll be here", Miles repeated in a stronger tone, breaking his gaze from the wall to face his sister. The lilac hedgehog threw her hands up in defeat and continued her task without another word, leaving her twin to resume staring at the clock in silence.

Within the next five minutes, a knock came at the door, cueing the siblings to face it in unison. The lavender hedgehog felt his heart pound against his ribcage while his twin called out for the newcomer to enter. He knew there was only one person it could be; Lily had left the sign on the door reading "Unavailable", and she didn't have anyone scheduled for tutoring that day. It had to be her...

As the door opened, a light gray hedgehog stepped into the room, sporting a plain backpack and a modest smile. Her party dress couldn't take much credit for her beauty; even in a simple T-shirt and pants, she looked stunning. At the sight of her, Miles jumped out of his seat and raced to meet the girl he'd been waiting to see all day. Her smile widening into a bright grin, Maria closed the door behind her and hurried forth to meet her boyfriend with open arms, laughing as she felt the welcome embrace for which she'd been longing since Saturday. The feeling of his hands on her face and his lips passionately kissing hers made her heart flutter, and soon she was gazing into his green eyes with a dreamy look in her blue ones.

"Hi", Miles whispered with a grin. He'd been waiting so long to kiss his girlfriend again that he could hardly believe she was standing before him now.

"Hi", Maria replied softly, touching her forehead to his. "I missed you all day."

"I missed you too! I thought the day would never end!"

"So did I! It was driving me crazy!"

"Come on", said the lavender hedgehog, taking the light gray one by the hand, "there's someone I want you to meet."

Miles led Maria to the large desk, in front of which his sister was already standing with a bright smile. The teenage boy proceeded to introduce the girls to each other.

"Maria, this is my little sister, Lily. Lily, this is my girlfriend, Maria."

The lilac hedgehog greeted the light gray one with a hug.

"I'm actually his twin sister", said Lily, stepping back again. "For some reason, it's important to him that people know he was born a minute before me."

Maria laughed softly at the sight of the other girl rolling her eyes.

"It's nice to meet you, Lily. Miles told me you'd be willing to help us."

Lily nodded, then asked her brother to pull another chair up to the desk as she returned to its other side. When all three were seated, the youngest spoke again.

"OK, to start off, I'm gonna admit that when Miles first told me he was involved with the Chaos leaders' daughter, I kind of... freaked out a little."

"'A little'?" Miles scoffed. "You practically had a panic attack!"

"However", Lily continued, "he did make a good point: this relationship of yours is the first example of peace between Chaos and Control that anyone has seen in a long time, and if we can warm people up to the idea of you two being together, we may finally have a chance of bringing peace to Green Hill."

At this, a memory suddenly occurred to the light gray hedgehog, and she turned to her right to face her boyfriend.

"Is that what the whole cafeteria incident was about?"

With a sly smile, the lavender hedgehog nodded. "Guilty as charged. Sorry!"

"Yeah, that whole show was his idea", said the lilac hedgehog. "I was hoping he'd be a little more subtle, but he wanted to start things off by making a scene."

"Well, we have to get people's attention!" said Miles. "How else are we supposed to get the ball rolling?"

"Anyway", his sister continued, "we obviously can't go around announcing you two are together just yet. Right now, it would probably start a war. We need to ease the idea into people's minds. Now, you know everyone expects us to take over our factions when our parents retire, and it would be great if you could be the first 'rivals' to get along. However, because we're all 16, nothing is set in stone yet."

"We can only officially accept leadership after we turn 18, right?" said Maria, citing a fact her parents had taught her years ago. The lilac hedgehog nodded.

"Exactly. Our parents also have until then to decide whether we're fit to be their successors. That means we absolutely cannot let them find out about this until they either can't or won't object, otherwise you'll be taken out of the running for sure, not to mention I'll be cut for helping you. And if that happens, Chaos and Control will go to the next in line..."

"Sonia and Rex." A heavy pause followed the lavender hedgehog's words as the friends considered the consequences of that possibility.

"Right." Lily broke the silence in an equally solemn tone. "And we can't let that happen. If Sonia and Rex take over, we can say goodbye to peace in this town for good. Not to put any pressure on you two, but you're pretty much our last hope."

Miles and Maria faced each other again. With a smile, the boy placed his hand over the girl's and winked at her.

"What do you say?" he said softly. "You think we can pull this off?"

The light gray hedgehog smiled back and clasped her fingers around the boy's.

"I know we can", she said confidently, then turned back to the lilac hedgehog. "So what's the plan?"

Lily pulled a small dry erase weekly planner board out from under her desk and laid it out in front of the couple.

"This is the tutoring schedule that goes outside the door", she said. "I write students' names and tutoring times here. What I did was schedule some time every afternoon for the same student, or at least, that's what everyone should think..."

As she spoke, the lilac hedgehog lifted the board, and Miles and Maria saw the name written across the week inside the 4-5 pm timeslot: M. Hedgehog.

"That's clever!" the teenage boy laughed. His sister bowed her head.

"Thank you", she said with a smile, replacing the board on the desk. "Now obviously, I won't actually be tutoring you; it's just a cover for you to have some time together during the week, since school's the only place you can both be at the same time without drawing attention. I'll still be here covering the study. I suggest we meet here every Friday at 4 to discuss how the plan's going, but for the rest of the week, you can meet in secret somewhere else on campus."

"The broken bleachers", said Miles suddenly, prompting the girls to face him. "There's a section of the bleachers off the track and field area that's been closed off for need of maintenance. No one's used it for months. We could meet there every day after school; no one would find us."

"OK", said the light gray hedgehog, "but I still have one question: if everyone can see the schedule, won't people wonder which of us is coming here every day?"

"Well, that's the advantage of being from different sides who don't talk to each other", said Lily with a shrug. "You tell your friends you're staying after school every day, Miles tells his friends the same story, the teachers assume I'm alternating between you, and in the end, no one's the wiser. My main concern is what your parents would think of you having private lessons with me, since I'm technically from Control. You think you can convince them it's OK?"

"I'm sure you could", said the lavender hedgehog before his girlfriend could reply. "Everyone knows Lily's practically neutral, plus she's the smartest kid in the whole school. If you tell your parents it's for your studies, they should be fine with it."

Maria nodded. Despite their animosity toward Control, Shadow and Crystal were sensible people, and any opportunity for their daughter to enhance her education would more than likely be acceptable to them.

"My parents won't have a problem with it", she said with confidence, then looked down sadly. "It's my prejudiced cousin I'm worried about..."

An awkward pause followed, until the other girl broke the silence in a hopeful tone.

"I know things seem bleak when you look at people like Sonia and Rex", said Lily, "but that's exactly why we need you and Miles to turn things around. You're already role models; you have the power to change people's views and show them how life here could be better if we all got along. Which brings me to the main point..."

She pulled a small notebook from the top desk drawer and opened it before the others, who immediately noticed the beginning of a list on the first page.

"In order to get people to start being nice to each other, you two need to set the first example. However, if you're too friendly right off the bat, it could arouse suspicion. That means no more big shows like today's cafeteria incident." The lilac hedgehog spared a meaningful look at her brother, who in turn shrugged with an innocent smile. "For now, just show little displays of kindness to each other: nod politely when you cross paths, don't avoid eye contact when you go into class, smile if you bump into each other, things like that."

With each example she cited, Miles and Maria read the corresponding item on the list, and with each thought of the steps they could take toward peace, their hopes rose a little bit more.

"So when do we get to move on to bigger gestures?" asked the boy, looking up at his sister. "You know, like actually talking to each other in public?"

"It depends on how well these go", Lily replied. "When others start to notice how you act with each other, then you can move on to a public friendship. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now, just focus on taking these small steps, and more importantly, enjoy each other's company whenever you can. This town is troubled enough as it is; romance in Green Hill would be a terrible thing to waste."

The light gray hedgehog smiled at the lilac one, then looked past her at the clock hanging over the chalkboard. At the sight of the minute hand pointing almost straight down, she gasped.

"Oh, I gotta go", she said, and reached for the backpack she'd left by her chair. "Angelica and her friends are waiting for me."

On that cue, the three friends rose to their feet. While Miles replaced the chairs, Maria approached Lily and embraced her.

"Thank you so much for helping us, Lily. I think it's really cool that you're willing to do this for Green Hill."

"It's not just for Green Hill", said the lilac hedgehog, releasing the other girl to look her in the eye. "I can't remember the last time I saw my brother this happy, and that's enough reason for me to be on your side. The whole reason I tried to talk him out of being with you was so he wouldn't get hurt, but now that I see how sweet you are and how happy you two make each other... I know this is the best thing that could have happened to him. You can count on me for anything."

Maria grinned broadly and thanked Lily with another hug before walking back to the door with Miles. She stopped in front of it to bid him farewell.

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" she whispered, gazing into his eyes with a sweet smile.

"Count on it", the lavender hedgehog replied softly, an equally bright smile on his lips as he gazed back into his girlfriend's eyes.

Excited about their endeavor yet disappointed that their first day together had reached an end, Miles and Maria shared one last tender kiss to tide them over until their next meeting. The young girl then opened the door and disappeared into the hallway. After closing it behind her, the boy leaned back against the door with a deep sigh and a grin. His sister folded her arms and rolled her eyes.

"You are so hopeless", she laughed, returning to the front desk to set about cleaning up. "But seriously, I really hope you two can make it."

"Oh no, I'm hopeful", said her brother with a sly wink, "and we will make it..."

And as Lily turned away to store the board and the notebook, Miles finished his thought in a private whisper, "Because the stars believe in us too."

* * *

For the rest of the week, the young couple followed the plan without difficulty. While they no longer exchanged words in public, they remained civil to each other, acknowledging one another in the halls and smiling when they crossed paths in the classrooms. At first, this behavior went unnoticed by most of the students, though as expected, neither Sonia nor Rex made a secret of their disdain for their cousin's unusual sympathy toward someone who was supposed to be a rival.

The vixen asked the lavender hedgehog a few times if he was only being nice to the new girl because she was pretty, at which he would laugh and shrug. The light gray hedgehog had the same such luck with the echidna, who started out by warning her not to try misleading "that boy" because he was probably attempting a similar scheme on her. Despite these disheartening reactions from their friends, however, the first week yielded no major backlash from anyone else, and Miles and Maria remained hopeful about the possibility of a brighter future for their town.

Meanwhile, every afternoon between 4 and 5 pm, the hedgehogs would meet beneath the sealed-off bleachers. Under the pretext of private tutoring, they were free to spend precious private time exchanging kisses and talk of the day's events, while their friends remained blissfully unaware of the affair. The exception to this routine was Friday afternoon, when the couple met instead in the tutoring study to discuss their progress with Lily. After the meeting, the two bid each other farewell, both dreading the weekend ahead.

"I never thought I'd say this", said Miles, "but I can't wait for Monday."

"Me neither", said Maria. "I wish we could see each other outside of school..."

"Someday", her boyfriend assured her, gently kissing her hand. "I promise."

With one last parting kiss, the girl disappeared out the study door, leaving the boy alone with the thoughts that would keep him longing for the start of a new week.

That was the day the first bump in the road surfaced.

Maria and Angelica headed up the stairs of the former's house at the end of the day, the latter going on about all the boys at school who seemed to be interested in her friend, as opposed to the science homework they were going to work on together.

"Angie, please!" the light gray hedgehog laughed as they stepped into her bedroom. "I told you, I'm not interested! I've got enough to think about as it is."

"You keep saying that", said the faint gray bat, dropping her things on the dresser, "but I think you're just too shy to say yes to someone."

"Trust me, I'm not", Maria muttered before she could stop herself.

"What do you mean?"

Suddenly realizing what she had said, the hedgehog avoided eye contact with the bat as she hung her backpack on a chair and closed the bedroom door.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind accepting an invitation from a boy if I really wanted to. Take Eugene; I could have said yes when he asked me out. I just didn't want to."

"Because you're really not interested in meeting anyone", said Angelica, furrowing her brow as she watched her friend. "Unless..."

A light suddenly shone in her baby blue eyes, and as an intriguing idea began to dawn on her, she finished her thought with a growing smile.

"...you already met someone."

Maria did not reply right away, but the pause she took coupled with her blushing cheeks gave enough of an answer to draw a gasp from her best friend.

"Oh my god! You _did_ meet someone!"

"Angie..." The young hedgehog was not eager to touch on the subject, but by the time she looked up again, the bat was already clapping her hands gleefully.

"You little sneak!" Angelica exclaimed, taking a seat on the bed and tapping the space next to her enthusiastically. "Tell me everything, now!"

"There's nothing to tell!" said Maria, but she could already feel her face turning a brighter shade of red than her highlights.

"Don't you lie to me!" The older girl pointed at her friend. "We've been best friends since we were little; you know I can always tell when you're hiding something!"

"Angie, can we please just focus on science now?"

"I think we already are. You know, chemistry..."

The younger girl sighed and rolled her eyes. It was clear her friend was not about to let this go any time soon.

"Come on, talk to me! Please?"

The light gray hedgehog raised her brow, eyeing the bat skeptically. "If it's not Eugene, do you really wanna know?"

The faint gray bat laughed again. "Oh please, I don't care! I just wanna see you happy! You are happy, right?"

Maria wasn't sure yet if she should confide in her friend about the surreptitious affair. After a minute's consideration, however, she realized she couldn't hide her feelings anymore, and a smile gradually returned to her lips.

"I am. So happy... Angie, he's wonderful! I've never felt this way before!"

Angelica grinned brightly. "That's so great! So you'll tell me all about him?"

The hedgehog rolled her eyes as took a seat on the bed beside the bat.

"Fine... but no details. I have to respect his privacy."

"Aw, come on! You gotta give me something! At least his name?"

"No", said Maria firmly. "Until he and I are ready to start telling people we're together, I can't betray his trust. No names, no hints, nothing."

"OK..." Angelica sighed disappointedly. "So how did you two meet?"

The hedgehog glanced down at her hands, biting her lip as a shy smile returned to her features, before locking eyes with her best friend once more.

"You remember how I disappeared for an hour at the party?"

Thinking back on that eventful evening, Angelica gasped. "_That's_ what you were up to? Were you outside kissing the whole time?"

"No!" Maria laughed as she rolled her eyes again. "We were outside talking!"

"What did you talk about?"

"What _didn't_ we talk about? We had so much to say, we completely lost track of time! He's so funny, and sweet, and smart, and..."

"Cute?" the faint gray bat suggested. The light gray hedgehog nodded.

"In more ways than one. He's handsome, but that's really more of a bonus. He has so much... character, you know? I would have talked to him all night if I could."

"So then what happened?"

"Then..." said Maria, blushing slightly, "he kissed me. And it was amazing! It was sweet and gentle, but passionate and electric at the same time. It was perfect."

"That's great!" said Angelica brightly. "Now I get why you've been acting different lately... So what is it about him that makes you feel this way?"

The teenage hedgehog hesitated. She didn't want to give too much away.

"...He sees me", she said, gazing distantly past her friend. The bat frowned again.

"Doesn't everyone?"

"No, I mean, he sees _me_; not my name, not my family, not my faction. He doesn't judge me by where I come from or what I'm supposed to be. He sees me for what counts. He likes me for who I am."

"Really? How can you tell?"

Maria looked into Angelica's eyes again. "Because... I saw the way he looked at me before he knew who I was, then again after everyone knew... and nothing changed. To him, I was still the same person. That's why he makes me so happy."

The faint gray bat smiled. Despite her own superficial tendencies, she enjoyed listening to her best friend talk about her insights into other people.

"And does he feel the same way about you?"

The hedgehog immediately felt her cheeks turning bright red again as she recalled every wonderful detail of the time spent with her boyfriend in the past week.

"He does", she said, her heart fluttering as her thoughts fell on that magical first kiss. "I know he does..."

"Well, that's awesome!" Angelica leaned forward to wrap her arms around her friend. "I'm so happy for you, Maria!"

The teenage bat rose to her feet and moved toward the dresser. After a few steps, she paused at the sound of Maria's voice calling her again.

"Angie..."

Without hesitation, Angelica turned around and smiled at her friend. "I know what you're gonna say, and you don't have to worry. I promise I won't tell anyone, not even Rex. Your secret's safe with me."

Maria grinned broadly, and jumped to her feet to throw her arms around the bat. "Thank you, Angie! You're the best friend ever!"

"No problem", Angelica laughed, hugging the hedgehog back. "I totally get how you feel. I know what it's like to be..."

But her voice trailed off, and when her friend pulled away to give her a puzzled look, she stared back at her awkwardly before speaking again with an innocent smile.

"...smitten."

The light gray hedgehog returned her friend's smile, but there was a hint of skepticism in her eyes. Before she could inquire, however, the bat stepped back and spoke again in her normal cheerful tone, heading for the dresser to get her things.

"Anyway, let's get to that homework", she said, and added on a final note, "Your boyfriend sounds great. I really hope things work out for you."

While Angelica returned her focus to her books, Maria looked out the window and whispered to herself, "They will, as long as the stars continue to smile on us."


	6. Blossoming Love

Chapter 6 – Blossoming Love

In a town fraught with the weeds that are constant quarrels, a teenage romance is much like a beautiful flower. It must struggle in the face of suffocation, but if it can survive the first trials, it can grow into the most lovely of blooms, blossoming like a beacon of hope for all to see. Such was the romance of the two young successors of Chaos and Control, and while even they had yet to discover the true power of their union, they did know they were willing to do whatever it took to be together, and to make the rest of Green Hill see their relationship as a blessing. Their flower would never die, not as long as they had each other and the favor of the stars on their side.

Miles and Maria made it through their first month as a couple with remarkable success. Not only were they catching the attention of their peers, but even their families were starting to notice their constant good moods. They had anticipated this, and they were ready to start warming their parents up to the idea of their union.

On a Wednesday afternoon in October, the Hedgehog twins arrived home to find Amy in the living room entertaining her best friend – Cream the Rabbit – and her 5-year-old identical triplet daughters: Amber, Ruby and Emerald. The pink hedgehog told her children that Sonic was out with Tails on political business, and asked if they wouldn't mind keeping an eye on the little ones while the adults caught up on recent news. Having returned from another blissful hour with his girlfriend, a euphoric Miles was the first to accept, much to the surprise of his mother and his sister.

"You wanna babysit 5-year-old girls?" said Lily, eyeing her brother skeptically.

"I don't mind", said the lavender hedgehog with a smile, and immediately set about clearing space in the living room for the children. Seeing he was in too good a mood to object to anything, the lilac hedgehog happily followed her twin's lead, and the two of them spent the next hour entertaining the triplets with drawing paper and crayons while the mothers remained immersed in conversation.

While she and her friend baked cookies, Amy would occasionally peek out of the kitchen to see how her children were faring in the living room. She was surprised to see her son getting along well with the Rabbit girls – talking and laughing with them, complimenting them on their drawings, and even joining in the fun with a sketch of his own. An hour later, after the cookies had been eaten and Cream announced she and her daughters needed to return home, the hedgehogs left alone in the house set about cleaning up the living room.

"I gotta say, Miles", said the pink hedgehog as she collected the scrap paper and crayons lying around, "I never thought I'd see this side of you. Who knew you could be so good with children?"

"It was nothing", the teenage boy insisted. His sister disagreed.

"Nothing?" the lilac hedgehog laughed, helping her brother move the coffee table back. "By the end of the day, those little girls wanted to take you home!"

"Well, you really impressed me today", said Amy, "and not just me. Cream just told me that the little ones were having so much fun with you both, they didn't wanna go home! Whatever you guys did, it couldn't have been 'nothing'..."

The pink hedgehog suddenly caught sight of a piece of paper resting on the floor: a drawing consisting of two flowers – one blue and the other red. She took the paper in her hand and studied it closely.

"What is this?"

"Oh, that's mine", said Miles hesitantly. "The girls asked for a story, so I drew a picture to go with it."

"Oh, it was the cutest story!" said Lily excitedly. "You should tell Mom!"

The lavender hedgehog shot his sister a look that asked what in the world she was doing. The young girl took advantage of the fact that their mother's back was turned and mouthed to her brother, _Tell her while Dad's not here_.

"It's really silly", the boy said casually. "It was something about how there once was a sad gray field, and when the wind blew in a couple of magic seeds, two flowers grew side by side, and together their magic was so strong that they brought color to the whole field, and everyone was happy, the end."

"They loved the story so much, they even made their own pictures to go with it", said the lilac hedgehog with a sly smile. "You should have seen their drawings of the field. They were so cute!"

It was after commenting on the sweetness of this story that Amy noticed the deepening hue in her son's cheeks. Intrigued, she began to muse on his odd behavior.

"Always in a good mood, getting along with 5-year-olds, telling stories about magic flowers that color the world..." The pink hedgehog frowned. "It's almost as if..."

But as Miles looked up at his mother, her voice trailed off and a smile slowly appeared on her face, the way it often did when her Gift was at work. After glancing at the drawing in her hand again, Amy took the empty plate off the coffee table and walked past her children toward the kitchen.

"Never mind", she sighed without making eye contact with the teenagers. "It's a crazy idea. A wonderful idea, but not possible. I don't know what I was thinking..."

And with that, she disappeared into the next room, the hint of a giggle lingering in her wake. Once they were alone again, Lily turned to her brother with a smile and gave him a thumbs-up.

"Looks like Mom's on board", she whispered enthusiastically. "Plus, I bet she thinks you're gonna make a great daddy someday."

"Mom's an easy target", Miles muttered, ignoring his sister's teasing remark. "It's Dad I'm worried about..."

"Relax! You keep up this 'good boy' attitude, and Dad will be on our side in no time."

And as the siblings followed their mother into the kitchen, the lavender hedgehog smiled and mused, "That's the hope."

* * *

On the Friday of that same week, Maria found herself in a similar situation with her own mother. In their living room at the end of the day, Crystal was helping her daughter try to unlock her Calling, but despite numerous attempts to channel the energy of their Chaos Emerald, the teenage girl still couldn't make any progress. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate, she always seemed to be distracted from her task, and after 15 minutes of practice with no success, her mother began to notice this atypical lack of focus.

"What's on your mind, honey?" said the white hedgehog after her daughter's third failed attempt to move a pencil telekinetically. "You don't seem entirely present."

"Nothing, Mom", Maria replied, keeping her gaze low so as to avoid having her thoughts read. "I'm just thinking that... maybe there's nothing psychic about my Calling. Maybe my focus is something else."

"Maybe", Crystal agreed, "but you've already tried your father's skill, and you still haven't managed to warp. It's more likely your Calling is subtle, like mine."

With a sigh, the light gray hedgehog lowered the Chaos Emerald and looked up at her mother to voice a thought that had been plaguing her for a while.

"Well, what if my Calling isn't even in the Mind class? I mean, it is possible, right? I've heard that people don't always take after their parents..."

The white hedgehog hesitated, gazing at her daughter sympathetically.

"I suppose... but you still won't know for sure until you feel the spark. Have you felt anything like it yet?"

Maria looked down at her right hand again, where her family's Chaos Emerald glinted a bright scarlet color in the dusk light shining through the window. The answer had come to her right away, but she had to be cautious of what information she chose to share with her mother just yet.

"I have", she admitted timidly, "but I don't know if it's the right kind of spark..."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just... ever since I started school, I've been really excited about all these new experiences I'm having. I feel a spark every day."

"Well, have you considered that one of these new experiences might be the key to unlocking your Calling? If you feel strongly about one in particular, maybe following it will help you find your special ability."

"Yeah, maybe..."

Seeing the beginning of a smile forming on the young girl's lips, Crystal approached her daughter with a smile of her own. After instructing the teenager to hold the gemstone up, she placed her hand over it while keeping her blue eyes focused on Maria's, the Emerald glowing softly between their palms.

"Something stands out", she said after the Chaos Emerald returned to its normal state. The light gray hedgehog felt her heart rate pick up.

"And what is it?" she asked as casually as she could. Her mother shook her head.

"I'm afraid my Calling doesn't quite work that way, sweetheart. The most I get by focusing are vibes, but visions only come at their own will. It's up to you to figure this out. You wouldn't happen to have an idea what this special experience is, would you?"

Relieved to know her secret was still safe for the most part, the young girl subtly exhaled the breath she'd been holding and gave an innocent shrug.

"It's hard to say, but it must be pretty special if you can tell it stands out. Maybe if it comes to light soon, I can tell you about it."

"Maybe..." Crystal furrowed her brow as she eyed her daughter, then broke into a kind smile once more. "But I'm sure the truth will reveal itself in due time. Let's give this practice a few more tries before we call it a day."

The white hedgehog turned and walked back to her previous spot across the coffee table. In the single moment that Crystal's back was turned, the light gray hedgehog paused to dwell on the curious look she had seen in her eyes, wondering just how far they had seen into her thoughts. The second her mother faced her again, however, Maria set aside her unease and returned to her task, and though she was still distracted, this time it was by the suggestion that the spark she felt so strongly every day might be the key to finding her Calling.

Was it possible? Could her feelings for Miles, a boy from Control, have anything to do with the power she had yet to discover in herself? It couldn't be, she thought, but nonetheless, she began to focus on her boyfriend and all the time she had spent with him thus far, drawing on the memories of each perfect kiss and joyful laugh they shared in the hopes that they might bring her Calling to light. After a few minutes, however, the teenage girl found that the pencil still hadn't moved an inch, and as she lowered the Chaos Emerald with a heavy sigh, Crystal offered some encouragement.

"Don't worry, sweetheart; it just isn't your moment yet. The power of Chaos never fails. Trust me; when the right time comes for you to use your Calling, you'll know."

Maria smiled. Of course her mother was right, and she had no doubt her Calling would reveal itself someday. But now was not the time to worry about that, for as she was soon to discover, there were more surprises down the road, including the revelation of just how strong the spark had yet to become.

* * *

A month later, in the last days of November, the first exams of the school year had the students of Emerald High poring over their textbooks and forming study groups to help them memorize as much knowledge from the past trimester as possible. Due to high demand for study help in these crucial weeks, Lily had cleared her tutoring schedule in order to be available to any and every student who needed her assistance. With the loss of their pretext, Miles and Maria were forced to put off meeting in secret for the two weeks preceding the tests, as well as the week of exams. Though disappointed, the teenagers knew that if they were going to keep their hopes of peace alive, they couldn't risk being discovered yet.

Their last day under the broken bleachers, the young couple agreed to meet back in their secret corner right after the final exam, which would be the last class on Friday. It wasn't long before they started to miss each other terribly. At the end of every school day, Miles felt a great sense of longing as he watched his girlfriend leave with her friends to meet with their study group. Maria, in turn, felt a tugging at her heart every time she passed her boyfriend on campus, wishing she could take the last dismissal bell as a cue to meet with him instead of to follow her cousin and her best friend anywhere else. What was more, every night, they would gaze out their bedroom windows at the night sky, each of them wondering if the other was doing the same and dreaming of the day they could enjoy this pastime of stargazing together.

But the greatest revelation yet to arise would come after a chilling surprise, when the teenagers' first mistake would lead to their discovery by an unsuspecting friend.

By the time the bell rang to start the final class of exam week, Miles and Maria were so anxious to meet with each other again that it was all they could do to keep from trembling when handed their test papers and rushing through the exam. They managed to keep their patience a little longer, though, instead filling out the test with the same care they had taken the entire week. If their relationship was going to stand a fighting chance, they would have to be as acceptable as possible in every aspect, including academically.

Having a natural edge in Language Arts, the light gray hedgehog was one of the first to finish her exam, and no sooner had she dotted the last period in her essay than she was grabbing her backpack and heading to the front of the room to lay her paper on the teacher's desk. Of course, had she taken the next second to check her own desk one more time before walking out the door, she would have noticed what her best friend did a moment later.

Angelica stood up and reached under Maria's empty chair to grab the notebook she had left behind. After slinging her bag over her shoulder and handing her test in, the bat stepped out into the hall and headed for the library, where her best friend had said she would go after finishing the exam. The plan was to return the notebook before going off to meet with the cheerleading squad, but she changed her mind when she caught up with her friend. Angelica entered the library hall just in time to spot Maria by entrance, but before she could call out, she was rendered speechless by what happened next: instead of walking through the doors, the hedgehog veered off and disappeared through another door leading outside. Confused, the bat hurried out the same door to see her friend walking toward the track and field area.

Realizing Maria was hiding something, Angelica looked down at the notebook in her hand. She felt compelled to follow her friend and solve this mystery, but to do so without being discovered would require the use of her Calling, and as she'd been taught her whole life, misusing it was a low act of offense associated only with those from Control. Still, if the hedgehog was acting suspiciously, it was the bat's moral obligation as her friend to make sure there was nothing terrible going on... right?

Deciding it was in everyone's best interest to uncover Maria's secret, Angelica took a deep breath and spread her wings to take flight. Once in the air, she focused all her energy on her stealth ability and followed her friend into the track and field area. The bat managed to stay out of sight long enough to see the hedgehog sneak behind the bleachers to a separate stretch covered with tarp, where she glanced over her shoulder once before lifting the plastic and disappearing inside.

Angelica landed by the bleachers and peaked through the opening in the tarp. She spotted Maria standing close to the back wall, visible in the faint sunlight shining through the white plastic but still partly hidden in the shadows cast by the wooden rows and metal beams above. The faint gray bat noticed the hedgehog seemed restless, constantly glancing at either end of the bleachers as though waiting for something – or someone – to appear...

No longer able to contain her curiosity, Angelica opened the tarp and stepped into the space, prompting Maria to turn sharply around in alarm. The light gray hedgehog rapidly turned pale, and she stared silently at the bat while trying to find her voice.

"Angie?" she muttered. "Wha- What are you doing here?"

"You forgot your notebook", said Angelica, stepping forth to hand over the item. Maria gratefully took the notebook from her friend and placed it on the backpack leaning against the wall before facing the other girl again.

"Um... how did you find me here?"

"I followed you, of course." The bat raised her brow. "I wanted to know why you didn't go to the library like you said you would."

The hedgehog glanced at her feet. By the time she faced her friend again, her voice had acquired a note of urgency.

"Thanks for bringing my book, but... I can't explain now. You need to go, please."

"Why?" Angelica was disappointed that Maria was trying to push her toward the exit. "Come on, tell me what's going on! Are you waiting for someone?"

The hedgehog's pause brought a smile to the bat's face.

"Is it that boy you told me about?"

"Angie, please..."

"It is!" Angelica folded her hands in a pleading gesture. "Can I meet him? Please?"

"I don't think so", said Maria, still urging her friend to the opening in the tarp as she glanced back over her shoulder. "He's really shy."

"Oh, I don't bite! Come on, I just wanna know who he is!"

"You will, someday. But not today. Please, Angie, before he gets here..."

The teenage bat sighed before finally giving in, turning around to walk back to the exit. Before stepping outside, she faced the light gray hedgehog one more time.

"Fine, I'll go now, but I want details. You tell me everything later! Promise?"

Maria had barely finished nodding when a noise behind her sent a chill into the pit of her stomach. As both girls faced the opposite end of the bleachers, they heard the sound of a male voice approaching. In seconds, the tarp was lifted, and a lavender hedgehog hurried into the space, speaking loudly in a cheerful tone.

"Hey! Sorry I'm late; that essay question was a killer-"

Miles froze, his smile vanishing instantly as he realized his girlfriend was not alone. An awkward silence ensued until the boy worked up the courage to smile weakly at her and offer a polite "hi". Maria turned slowly back to face Angelica, feeling a cold sense of dread at the expression of shock on her face. The bat shifted her gaze from the lavender hedgehog to the light gray one and folded her arms. Knowing her friend was waiting for an explanation, the younger girl broke the silence in an apologetic whisper.

"OK, so you know now..."

"Miles Hedgehog?" Angelica hissed. "_That's_ the boy you've been seeing?!"

"...Yes..."

"Are you crazy?! You know he's the next leader of Control!"

"And I don't care", said Maria defiantly. "I know this looks bad, Angie-"

"You're damn right it looks bad!" The bat was livid. "You know what your parents would say if they knew about this? You know what your cousin would _do_?!"

"Oh, please don't say anything to them! It's not the time yet."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can't explain right now. Just please don't tell anyone about this. Remember that you promised..."

Angelica glanced between Maria and Miles a few times before sighing in defeat.

"Fine, I won't tell."

"Thank you." The hedgehog smiled and hugged her friend. "Now you need to go..."

While her friend urged her toward the exit again, the faint gray bat spared one last cold glance at the lavender hedgehog before staring the light gray one in the eye.

"OK, I'm going... but I'm stopping by your house after practice, and I want a full explanation when you get back."

And with that, Angelica turned on her heel and disappeared through the tarp, leaving her best friend to stare after her in silent apprehension.

Maria stayed frozen in place, gazing quietly ahead as she pondered what had just happened. She vaguely heard the sound of a backpack being placed beside hers, but she didn't fully return to her senses until she felt her boyfriend gently wrapping his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder. The two of them stood in silence for a minute. Then Miles spoke.

"She's not gonna tell anyone."

"How do you know?" said the girl, absently leaning her head against the boy's.

"I can tell. All that yelling was 'cause she cares about you and doesn't want you to get in trouble. You're real friends; she'd never dream of breaking a promise to you."

"I know", Maria sighed, "but I hated having to keep this from her. I knew she'd take it badly."

"Well, it's understandable", said Miles, kissing his girlfriend's shoulder. "It can't be easy to accept that a boy she's supposed to hate is in love with her best friend."

The light gray hedgehog gasped, her blue eyes growing wide as she turned sharply to face the boy. "What?!"

Thinking back, the lavender hedgehog suddenly felt his green eyes growing wide as well. He hadn't meant to say it – he didn't even know what he felt until the words came of their own accord - and as the realization of his accidental confession hit him, he slowly took a step back.

"I- I'm sorry!" he stammered, raising his hands. "I didn't... I take it back-"

"Don't." Maria placed a finger over her boyfriend's lips. In the pause that followed, she thought back on her relationship with Miles – how good he was to her, how happy she felt whenever she was with him, how every school day seemed to drag on until the second she was in his arms again – and as the truth finally began to dawn on her, a joyful smile brightened her face and a sweet whisper fell from her lips...

"I love you too."

The teenage boy could hardly believe his ears. He was so shocked to hear those wonderful words that it took him half a minute to find his voice. When he finally came to his senses, he matched his girlfriend's smile and spoke in an awestruck whisper.

"You do?"

"I do!" The young girl reached up to touch the boy's face and gazed deeply into his eyes. "I love you, Miles."

The lavender hedgehog was so thrilled that he threw his arms around the light gray one and passionately kissed her for a full minute before gazing into her eyes with a broad grin.

"I love you, Maria", he whispered boldly, no longer afraid of the magical words. She kissed him again.

They knew they were running a great risk. They knew that acknowledging their true feelings made their forbidden affair all the more dangerous. But they didn't care. Now that they were in love, Miles and Maria had the power to survive anything the world would dare throw at them, as long as they had each other. Happier than they could ever remember being in their lives, the couple spent the rest of their afternoon time in a dream, sharing magic kisses and laughs that left them in such a haze of bliss, the illusion of perfection stayed with them even after going their separate ways. As they each walked home on a cloud, they felt the truth shining like an eternal ray of sunlight: life as they knew it would never be the same.

* * *

Before heading home, the lavender hedgehog met with his sister in her study, as per an earlier agreement. Miles was in such a trance that he barely noticed when he reached the door, and as soon as he closed it behind him, he leaned back against it with a dreamy sigh. At the sight of the look on his face, Lily questioned him at once.

"What's with you?"

The teenage boy gazed back at the girl as though not even really seeing her, and replied in a tone to match his expression.

"Lily... I'm in love."

The smile vanished instantly from the lilac hedgehog's face as she gasped. "Miles... that's wonderful! Did you tell her today?"

"About a minute before I knew it myself", the lavender hedgehog laughed. "The words just came out, and that's when I knew."

"And what did she say?" Lily raised her brow with a smile. The boy sighed again.

"She loves me too."

The lilac hedgehog placed a hand over her heart. She had never seen her brother so happy, and it comforted her to know he had found such bliss in his life.

"That's great, Miles", she said as she slung her bag over her shoulder, and added slyly, "It's good to know you finally see it yourself."

As his sister headed for the door, the lavender hedgehog frowned at her curiously. "Is it that obvious?"

"Are you kidding?" Lily laughed. "You said so yourself: you can't stop thinking about her; you count the seconds 'til you get to see her again; you're never happier than when you're with her, even after two months... Frankly, I'm surprised you didn't pick up on it sooner!"

Miles watched his twin in amusement as he stepped out of her way.

"Wow, are you guys in trouble", said the lilac hedgehog while opening the door, though her smile lingered as she faced her brother again. "But I really wish you the best. You know what you have is incredibly beautiful. You'd better fight for it like there's no tomorrow, 'cause in a town like this, that just might be true."

Something in Lily's words left the faintest hint of foreboding in the air. Miles took little notice as he followed his sister, however, for today was possibly the best day of his life yet, and he wasn't going to let anything spoil it. The rain could fall as much as it wanted; for Maria and him, there would never be anything but sunshine.

* * *

Somewhere on Chaos ground, a light gray hedgehog made her way home, feeling as though she were walking on air with each step she took. Everything about her life seemed so perfect that she didn't bat an eye when she entered her bedroom to find her best friend waiting for her, nor did her smile falter at the interrogation that ensued from the moment she took a seat on her bed.

"Maria, what is going on?" Angelica stood before her friend with her arms folded. "Why did I catch you with Miles Hedgehog today?"

The teenage hedgehog shrugged, too entranced to argue. The bat rolled her eyes.

"So that's the boy you were telling me about? That's the boy you met at your party, the one who gave you the perfect kiss and who 'sees you for you'?"

"You mean is that the boy who makes me happier than I've ever been?" said Maria boldly. "Yes, that's Miles."

"Why?!" The look in Angelica's eyes spoke volumes of her disbelief. "Why would you get involved with that... Control boy?"

"Because he understands! He knows what it feels like to live under a ton of pressure to be something you're not even sure you're cut out to be! He gets what it's like to grow up as a name, and not as a person."

"Come on, you're not just a name", said the bat, but the hedgehog shook her head.

"Tell that to everyone at school. You saw the way they all gawked at me on my first day, and it's obvious why. I bet you not one of the students staring at me that day gave a damn who I was on the inside. They just wanted to see if I'd live up to hype."

"Well, that's high school! Everyone's just looking out for themselves."

"But it doesn't have to be that way", said Maria, smiling again. "That's the point, Angie. What Miles and I have could be the start of peace in Green Hill. That's why we choose to be together, no matter what anyone says."

The faint gray bat eyed her friend skeptically, but the hedgehog's determination never faltered, and after a minute, Angelica breathed a heavy sigh.

"You're really going through with it, then? Risking everything to be with this boy?"

Maria stared unblinkingly at her best friend, not a trace of doubt on her features. "He's worth it."

The teenage bat raised an eyebrow, taking a seat beside the hedgehog. "I'm sure he is. There's obviously more to this than a play for peace. I can see it in your eyes, Maria. What's really going on?"

Maria looked away, feeling the color rushing into her face, before looking back at Angelica with a grin.

"Angie..." she whispered, "I love him."

Though her mind told her that her friend's confession had dangerous implications, the bat found that her heart said differently. She was moved by the happiness in the hedgehog's words, and instead of scolding Maria as she thought she would, Angelica sighed deeply with a weak smile.

"Oh, honey", she breathed, "that's... amazing."

Her friend's pause triggered a memory in the hedgehog's mind, and she gave the bat a curious look.

"You knew!" she laughed. "I remember now, when I first told you about him."

"OK, maybe I did", said Angelica with a shrug. "Why do you think I flipped out when I saw you with him today?"

"I know this is scary, Angie", said Maria earnestly, placing a hand over her friend's, "but trust me on this. It'll all be worth it in the end. We can make this town a better place, but only if things go according to our plan. That's why you can't tell anyone about us right now. Please, promise me you'll keep our secret."

The pleading look in the dark blue eyes before her proved too overpowering for the young bat, and she sighed in defeat again.

"Fine, I promise", said Angelica, smiling despite her reluctance to agree. "So tell me something: now that I know you already knew each other on your first day of school, what was the deal with that whole show in the cafeteria?"

"Oh, that was his idea", laughed Maria. "I swear, I was just as surprised as you."

"Yeah, I thought he seemed a little too interested in you." The bat smirked, then grew serious again. "So does he love you too?"

"He does", said the hedgehog dreamily. "He told me today, and I saw it in his eyes."

"Well, that's wonderful", said Angelica, and she leaned forward to give her best friend a hug. "Seriously, I'm really happy for you. And if you say Miles is a good guy, I believe you. I just hope you two know what you're doing."

"Thank you, Angie", Maria whispered, gazing out her window. "I hope so too."

* * *

The passing of almost another month brought with it the start of the holiday season. Students across Emerald High were excited for the upcoming winter vacation, and nobody could wait for the final dismissal bell of the year to kick off the relaxing last weeks of December. Nobody, that is, except the secret lovers, who instead dreaded the time they'd be forced to spend apart. It pained them to know they couldn't spend special occasions together, but they found comfort in the idea of the future toward which they were making steady progress. Until then, they would have to accept the situation as it was, but Miles had a plan to make things easier...

"Meet me in the fields", he said on their last Friday together before winter break. "By the big oak tree, at sunset."

Maria left the tutoring study with a spring in her step, hurrying back to her locker for the last of her things before being absent from campus for three weeks. Before she could take a single step toward the exit, however, she was intercepted by an arm thrown against the lockers, a sheet of paper pinned beneath the hand.

"So, Maria", said Eugene coolly, "what are your plans for winter break?"

"Why do you wanna know?" asked the hedgehog awkwardly, glancing at the Chemistry test marked with an A+.

"I thought you and I could hang out with Rex and Angelica sometime", said the cat, and added smugly, "And maybe without them."

Maria glanced subtly over Eugene's shoulder to see her boyfriend walking toward the exit. The second she spotted him, he spared a glance at her, and in that moment, she realized that honesty might be the best way to shake off unwanted advances...

"There's someone else", said the light gray hedgehog, looking the cat in his icy gray eyes. Eugene raised an eyebrow, his smirk fading.

"'Someone else'? Who?"

"It doesn't matter", said Maria firmly. "I have feelings for someone else right now, so I'm afraid I can't accept. I'm sorry."

The purple cat took a step back, and the hedgehog could have sworn she saw his eyes narrow the tiniest fraction. Once the chill in her spine dissipated, she heard him speak in a colder tone.

"Well, whoever this 'someone else' is, just know he's got some fierce competition."

And with that, Eugene turned and walked away, leaving Maria with troubling ideas in her head and a sense of dread forming in the pit of her stomach.

Within an hour, the hedgehog was heading alone to the open fields, safe under the pretext of spending free time out with her best friend, who had graciously agreed to cover for her. Though she was still worried over the cat's reaction, she was confident he wouldn't spread the news out of fear of losing face. But now was not the time for such concern, for she had arrived at the hill where her boyfriend was already waiting.

In a rush of excitement, Maria ran the last steps to meet Miles and threw her arms around him. After a sweet kiss, the boy dared to touch on an awkward subject.

"Eugene still giving you a hard time?" he asked. The girl shook her head.

"I took care of it", she said. "So what did you wanna meet here for?"

The lavender hedgehog took her by the hand and led her to the top of the hill. The first sight to meet Maria's eyes was a golden sun sinking down an opalescent sky into the distant horizon. It was a view that took her breath away.

"Oh, Miles", she sighed, "it's beautiful."

Suddenly, the light gray hedgehog was distracted by a small box being lifted before her, followed by a soft voice in her ear whispering "Merry Christmas". Embarrassed, Maria looked over her shoulder at Miles.

"But... I didn't get you anything."

"It's OK." The lavender hedgehog smiled. "This one's for both of us."

Intrigued, the young girl took the box and lifted the lid to peek inside. She laughed heartily at the sight of its contents, and turned around to face the boy as she extracted a sprig of mistletoe tied with a red ribbon.

"Clever", she said as he took the items from her. Miles pocketed the box and hung the mistletoe from a nearby branch.

"Well, you know the rules", he said with an innocent shrug. Maria laughed and stepped forth to stand beneath the mistletoe with her boyfriend. Gazing deeply into his eyes, she wrapped her arms around his neck, leaned in, and softly kissed his lips.

The teenagers savored the moment for what felt like several minutes of bliss. They didn't want to break the magic, but as always, reality had to catch up with them sooner or later. As they pulled away, the girl broke the silence in a solemn tone.

"I wish we didn't have to be alone to kiss under the mistletoe..."

It was then that the boy had an idea, and a sly smile formed on his lips.

"But we're not alone. We're at my parents' annual Christmas party, and the mistletoe is hanging between the hall and the living room."

Catching on to the game, Maria followed Miles's lead as he walked toward the tree, a mischievous smile on her face as well.

"Is that so? I'm invited, then?"

"Your whole family is. And your friends. In fact, Lily and Angelica saw the mistletoe first. They're the ones who told us we have to kiss. Of course, how could I resist when you're wearing that beautiful dress?"

The lavender hedgehog gestured at the light gray one's black jacket and plain pants. She laughed softly.

"Won't your mom have a problem with the two of us kissing in plain sight?"

"Oh, my mom loves you, and so does my dad. If anything, they'd be pushing for us to kiss too."

"Not my parents", said Maria, walking around the tree. "They'd want to know everything about you first, to see if you're good enough for me."

"Oh?" Miles laughed, leaning back against the oak. "What do they wanna know?"

"Well... what kind of person are you? Are you respectful? Humble? Honest?" The light gray hedgehog appeared around the tree at her boyfriend's other side. "What are your intentions with their daughter?"

The lavender hedgehog turned to his left to face his girlfriend, and she saw his smile fade to make way for a meaningful expression.

"I intend to make her as happy as she makes me. And I'll do whatever it takes to be the kind of person she deserves... even if it takes the rest of my life."

Maria hesitated, feeling her own smile falter as she stared into Miles's green eyes, before breaking into a bright grin again.

"Well, an answer like that earned you an invitation to my parents' New Year's Eve party." She took his hand and led him away from the tree. "And now they don't mind if we kiss at midnight. It's the end of the night, and everyone's counting down to the new year. 10... 9... 8..."

As she counted, the young girl walked backwards with her boyfriend's hands in hers to the top of the hill. There they stood gazing into each other's eyes, the light of the setting sun on their faces as imaginary midnight crept ever closer...

"...3... 2... 1..."

The last number falling from her lips in a whisper, Maria leaned in at the same time as Miles, and the two of them kissed again. Several blissful seconds later, they pulled away, and the girl finished her counting with a sweet smile.

"Happy New Year."

"Yes, another year together", said the boy. His girlfriend gave him a puzzled look.

"'Another' year?"

"Oh, don't you remember? We've been together for a long time now." The lavender hedgehog stepped slowly around the light gray one. "We've celebrated a lot of special days, and now it's almost the anniversary of the day we met..."

Standing behind her, Miles faced Maria again, and as she turned to him, she saw him getting down on one knee. Before her surprise could catch up with her, he took her hand and spoke again in a soft whisper.

"...and I realize there's no one else I'd rather spend my life with than that girl who made me believe in magic. Maria, my love, will you marry me?"

Hardly even realizing what was happening, the light gray hedgehog grinned and nodded enthusiastically.

"Yes!" she exclaimed. "Of course I will!"

The lavender hedgehog slipped an imaginary ring onto his girlfriend's finger, and in one swift motion, he rose to his feet and lifted her off of hers, both of them laughing ecstatically. The next thing they knew, Miles and Maria were scrambling around planning the wedding that would unify Chaos and Control once and for all: arranging meetings among their parents; appointing Angelica and Sonia as bridesmaids and Rex as a groomsman; and even asking Lily to perform the ceremony. Several minutes into the game, the teenagers were standing at the top of the hill again, holding hands before their invisible audience of family and friends as they promised to love and honor and cherish each other, through better or worse, for the rest of their days together. And as the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, they felt their smiles fade with each word, realizing that behind all their fun, they spoke the truth.

"Now and forever", breathed Miles, squeezing the girl's hands a little tighter.

"Now and forever", Maria whispered, and surrendered to the boy's kiss again.

They didn't want the game to end, not when everything was exactly the way it should be. But it was as if the setting sun had taken with it their perfect fantasy, and as the couple stood in each other's arms with their foreheads touching and their eyes closed, they felt the cold hand of reality creeping up on them, threatening to tear them apart the way it always did in their most peaceful moments together.

"Miles", the light gray hedgehog whispered, "I gotta go..."

"No..." The lavender hedgehog tightened his embrace around his girlfriend, refusing to let her leave. "Forever hasn't even started yet. Stay..."

"I can't." The girl breathed a heavy sigh. "You know I would. But I promise we'll make this dream a reality. Hold out a little longer. Our time will come, someday."

The boy reluctantly agreed. After arranging to meet at the hill every Friday of vacation, the hedgehogs exchanged bittersweet farewells.

"I love you", Miles whispered, and kissed Maria as if it were the last time he would ever see her.

"I love you too."

As they pulled away, the teenagers glanced up at the sky, where the first stars of the night were visible. The lavender hedgehog smiled and faced the light gray one.

"Rest easy, my love, for tonight the stars smile on us."

The young girl smiled back at the boy and replied softly, "As they always will."

With a final parting kiss, Maria walked down the hill in the direction of Chaos territory, repeatedly glancing over her shoulder until she could no longer see Miles by the oak tree. A week would seem like an eternity, but they knew that at least for tonight, they would be blessed with hopeful thoughts and pleasant dreams of being together forever. The stars would not have it any other way.

Christmas that year proved bittersweet for the lovers, who wished they could celebrate together with both their families in the same room, instead of an entire town apart with only love letters exchanged the day before to keep as gifts. As hard as this was to bear, though, New Year's Eve proved even more trying for Miles and Maria, for each second closer to midnight brought a greater longing for the kiss they couldn't share to start the new year together. But they had a plan for how to cope...

"You see that really bright star?" the boy said earlier that day, indicating a brilliant spot close to the moon. "It's all ours. At the count to midnight, look outside, right at that star, and I'll do the same. So even if we're apart, whenever we're both looking at our star, we'll be together."

As promised, close to midnight at their families' New Year's parties, both young hedgehogs made sure to be standing near a window with a clear view of the moon. When the countdown to the new year began, Miles and Maria looked outside at their star, and when the clock's hands finally reached 12 and everyone began to cheer, the teenage lovers smiled to themselves, feeling their strong connection through the magic star that was all their own.

"Happy New Year, Miles", the light gray hedgehog whispered, and somewhere far away, she could almost hear the lavender hedgehog whispering back to her...

"Happy New Year, Maria."

The hedgehogs' hopeful gazes out into the night sky were not missed by their best friends, and as Lily placed a hand on her brother's shoulder and Angelica put her arm around her friend, Miles and Maria found comfort in these supportive gestures. As long as they had their love, this year would be the most promising of their lives.

* * *

Six weeks later, in the middle of February, Emerald High was abuzz yet again over another big holiday: Valentine's Day. No one in Green Hill took this day more seriously than its teenagers, who always spent the preceding week planning the gestures they would make and to whom they would be made as if they were strategizing for war. Meanwhile, the school's one inter-factional couple felt jealous of their peers, who were free to openly express their feelings for each other on the most romantic day of the year while they had to keep their love a secret. Still, the boy from Control wanted more than anything to show his affection for the girl from Chaos in public, and he knew exactly how he was going to do so.

Valentine's Day fell on a Monday, which meant that for an entire school day, students were more preoccupied with exchanging cards and gifts than with paying attention in class. By the end of the day, couples were sharing kisses over gifts in public, while single teenagers were comparing their popularity by the amount of favors they'd received throughout the day. While the most popular girls usually won this annual contest, however, the end of the last class revealed the surprise of a large pile of flowers and cards collected by none other than the successor of Chaos.

Maria couldn't recall a day when she had ever felt so mortified. Her face spent more time in a deep shade of red than in its natural color, for the end of every class brought a generous share of favors from several admirers, from flowers placed on her desk to greeting cards slipped in her locker. It was as if every boy from Chaos had unanimously agreed that today would be the best time to vie for her attention. They had gotten so competitive, in fact, that by the final bell, the hedgehog was folding sheets of notebook paper to wrap all her flowers into one large bouquet.

But the ridiculous wave of valentines didn't end there. As she gathered her belongings after the final class, Maria was startled by an extravagant bouquet of red roses being placed on her desk. Her heart sank when she looked up, for standing before her, characteristic smirk on his face, was the ever persistent purple cat.

"These are for you", said Eugene, as if dropping them a foot from the hedgehog's nose didn't make that obvious. "The best ones in the shop."

The girl looked awkwardly at the flowers. It was a beautiful arrangement, consisting of a dozen perfectly cut red roses in full bloom, all wrapped in bright scarlet paper tied with a black ribbon. While any other girl might have seen an incredibly romantic gesture, however, Maria saw only a clichéd show of extravagance with no real sentiment behind it. Unimpressed but not wanting to be impolite, the light gray hedgehog nodded once as she took the bouquet.

"Thank you", she said halfheartedly, barely making eye contact with the cat. Eugene walked past the hedgehog, pausing at her side to mutter in her ear.

"Let's see your 'someone else' try to top that."

And with that, the purple cat walked back to his desk, leaving Maria with a ridiculously large flower bouquet in her hands and an expression of subtle disdain on her face. A minute later, she met her cousin and her best friend outside the classroom door, the echidna standing behind the bat with his arms around her as they both looked over the collection of gifts in the hedgehog's arms.

"Well, someone's popular", laughed Angelica. Her friend rolled her eyes, unamused.

"Who are the roses from?" asked Rex, referring to the extravagant bouquet.

"Who else?" said Maria with a shrug. "Eugene still can't take a hint."

"Hey, don't sweat it", said the bat. "I'm sure he'll back off whe- _if_ someone else shows up in the picture."

Angelica blushed at this minor slip, biting her lower lip as her best friend faced her in surprise and her boyfriend furrowed his brow curiously.

"'When'?" he said, confused. "You seem pretty sure she'll get a boyfriend soon."

There was a brief pause as the girls stared at each other, a pleading look in the hedgehog's eyes that only the bat could see clearly.

"Well, yeah!" The older girl faced the echidna with a smile. "I mean, look at her! She's very attractive; half the boys in the school already want her. She probably even broke Vivian Nussbaum's valentine record! I think she could have a boyfriend before the year's up, but she won't admit it."

Maria knew Angelica was trying to cover up her mishap, but Rex remained skeptical.

"I don't know. It sounds like you already have someone in mind."

It was then that the young hedgehog began to think that now might be a good time to take another step forward and start being a little more honest with her cousin.

"She's probably thinking about the boy I like", she said casually. Both her friends turned sharply to face her.

"What?" Rex was shocked. "You like someone? Since when?"

"Since last year", Maria replied, shrugging calmly.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you'd get all protective of me, like you always do. It's easier to talk to Angie about this stuff. She understands."

"So who is he?" asked the red echidna, but before the light gray hedgehog could answer, her best friend interjected.

"Forget it, Rex", the bat laughed. "She wouldn't even tell me. Now come on; let's get out of here and celebrate Valentine's Day for real."

Grateful for the cover, Maria smiled at her friend's subtle wink, which fortunately went unnoticed by the boy.

"You two have fun today." The hedgehog smiled. "I'll see you guys later."

On that cue, Angelica took Rex by the hand, and after bidding their friend goodbye, the couple walked away to spend the rest of Valentine's Day together, leaving Maria to return to her locker alone before going off on her own secret date.

As she walked down the hall on her own, the teenager began to ponder over all the gifts she'd received and how a certain one was strangely missing. Her boyfriend had told her last week that she would know which valentine was his, but with the school day already over, she found that none of the flowers in her hands or the cards in her backpack stood out from the rest as special. Perhaps she'd missed something...

Just as it occurred to her that he might have saved his gift for her to find in her locker at the end of the day, Maria walked straight into an obstacle she hadn't noticed during her idle thinking. Jolted back to her senses, she had just enough time to realize she'd bumped into another student before the flowers she was carrying fell from her hands to spill across the floor. Before kneeling to retrieve them, the young girl looked up to apologize, and it was only then that she finally found herself staring into the emerald green eyes of the one boy she would accept as her valentine.

"I'm so sorry!" Miles exclaimed. "That was my bad."

"No, it's OK", said Maria, regaining her composure as the boy knelt down to pick up the scattered flowers. "I wasn't looking..."

The light gray hedgehog knelt as well to help clean up the mess, the lavender hedgehog making conversation as they gathered the fallen gifts.

"Looks like you got a lot of valentines this year", he said, handing her some flowers. "I can see why. Who wouldn't want a beautiful girl like you to be his valentine?"

Maria blushed profusely, and acknowledged the compliment with a sweet smile.

"Thank you. But it takes more than a pretty flower to win me over. I honestly don't see much potential in any of these 'suitors'."

"Even this fellow?" The teenage girl looked up to see Miles holding the rose bouquet with a roguish smile. "I've seen less fancy arrangements made for weddings! To go to this much trouble, he must think you're really worth it."

"Oh, he does", the light gray hedgehog laughed, taking the roses from the boy. "Just not for the reasons I'd like."

Maria picked up the last of the dropped flowers and was just about to rise to her feet when her attention was called by the lavender hedgehog again.

"Oh, these are yours too, I believe."

The girl absently reached up to take the favor, only to freeze at the sight of it. In Miles's hand was a bunch of small blue star-shaped flowers tied with white string, a gift that definitely was not among the ones she'd been carrying before. Realizing he must have pulled it out of his jacket when she wasn't looking, the light gray hedgehog recognized it as the valentine she'd been looking forward to receiving all day, and took it from the lavender hedgehog with a smile.

"Thank you", she said timidly, and the two of them rose to their feet. Before continuing on his way, the boy pointed at the blue flowers.

"Not that it's any of my business, but I bet whoever gave you those was thinking of your eyes when he picked them out. Just saying..."

With a wink, Miles wished Maria a happy Valentine's Day and walked past her, leaving her standing alone with a special gift in her hand and a grin on her face.

The teenage boy glanced over his shoulder and smiled at his girlfriend one last time before watching her walk away in the opposite direction. Content that he had managed to give her a valentine in public, Miles continued down the corridor with a proud grin on his face until he caught up with a lilac hedgehog leaning back against her locker with her brow raised.

"Subtle", said Lily, rolling her eyes as her brother moved past her toward his own locker. Her sarcasm had no effect on his happiness, and he smiled as he went through his belongings until he was startled by another female voice behind him.

"Hey!" exclaimed Sonia as she jumped on Miles's back. "What's going on? You guys get any valentines this year?"

"Some cards and lilies", said the lilac hedgehog, "from the boys I tutor. You?"

"You know Eric, that cute fox with the glasses?" The vixen released her cousin and held up a champagne rose with a mischievous smile.

"The one who's had a crush on you forever?" laughed Lily. "Nice."

"What about you, Miles?" said Sonia, turning to her other cousin.

"What about me?" he said as he casually sorted through the stack of cards in his locker. The fox laughed, looking over his shoulder.

"Come on! What did you get? Or better yet, did you give anything?"

Pausing halfway through the valentines, the boy spared a glance at his sister, as though asking for her advice. The girl nodded and smiled; now was a good time to take the next step.

"Actually", said Miles, facing his cousin again with a smile, "yes, I did give a valentine this year."

Sonia's eyes suddenly grew wide, and she clapped her hands gleefully. "That's awesome! So there's someone special in your life? Who is it?"

"I'm not telling", said the lavender hedgehog slyly, looking down at his valentines again. The fox made no secret of her disappointment.

"No fair! Why not?"

"Because I don't want you scaring her away. You know how you get."

"Oh, come on!" the teenage vixen pleaded. "I'll be good, I swear! Please tell me?"

Seeing that her friend would continue to refuse, the two-tailed fox swiped the cards from his hands and started shuffling through them.

"Is it one of these girls?" she asked, but before she could finish looking through them, the boy snatched the valentines back and stashed them in his pocket.

"You'll find out soon enough", said Miles, closing his locker and tapping Sonia's nose with a playful smile. "All in good time."

And with that, the three friends left the school together, the lavender hedgehog barely hearing the conversation between his sister and his cousin as he thought ahead about the secret date he had planned with the girl he loved.

Meanwhile, Maria quickly made her way home to leave her belongings before going off to meet with her boyfriend. Upon arriving at her house, she found both her parents in the living room, and the moment they saw her walk in, they expressed surprise over the sizable collection of gifts in her hands.

"Are these all for you?" said Crystal, staring in amazement at the flowers her daughter placed on the coffee table. The teenager nodded, her face turning red.

"Wow, you're really catching some eyes at school", Shadow laughed. "Mind if we take a look?"

"Go ahead." Maria gestured at the table with a smile. She watched as her mother and father sorted through her valentines, commenting on each gift. It didn't take long for them to discover the elaborate bouquet.

"Oh my, these are exquisite!" said the black hedgehog, lifting the roses to examine them. "Who gave you these?"

"Oh, those are from Eugene Princeton", said the teenage girl awkwardly. "Some friend of Rex's who likes me."

"And you don't like him?" said Shadow, reading his daughter's tone.

"He's OK", she replied with a shrug. "I'm just not interested."

Suddenly, Maria was startled by a gasp. Glancing to her father's right, she noticed the white hedgehog looking down at the table, and following her gaze, the teenager realized with a jolt of surprise that her hand was close to a bunch of blue flowers...

"Something wrong, Mom?" the girl asked as casually as her alarm would allow. Her mother shook her head absently.

"No, nothing's wrong", Crystal replied without taking her eyes off the little bouquet. "I just... got a very strong vibe from these flowers."

The white hedgehog took them in her hand and held them up to observe them. With each second, her daughter could see the fascination growing in her blue eyes.

"These are forget-me-nots", she whispered. "That's incredible..."

"What do you mean?" Maria was curious despite her unease.

"Well, these are spring flowers; they aren't in season yet. In fact, there's only one place in Green Hill where these bloom early..."

The light gray hedgehog felt her heart rate quicken, but fortunately, there were no revealing clues hidden in her mother's next words.

"In the far north of the fields. Whoever gave you these didn't get them in a flower shop, that's for sure." Crystal looked up at her daughter again, intrigued. "Do you happen to know who these are from, sweetheart?"

Relieved that the white hedgehog couldn't divine her secret yet, Maria shrugged with all the innocence of a young girl with nothing to hide.

"A lot of these were anonymous", she said honestly. "I wish I could say."

"Well, I can say this much", said Crystal with a smile, "whoever he is, he genuinely cares about you. I say if you can find him, keep him."

A broad grin spread across the teenager's face. To hear her mother approve of the boy she loved – even unknowingly – made her happier than she could ever imagine. Now she was even more hopeful that someday, her father might approve as well...

"Congratulations, sweetheart", said Shadow, also smiling at his daughter. "It's wonderful to see you have so many admirers. We wish you the very best."

"Thank you, Daddy", said the teenager, and she gave her parents a kiss each.

As the white hedgehog took the flowers to trim them and put them in water, the 16-year-old girl hurried upstairs to leave her backpack in her bedroom before returning to the living room. Under the pretext of taking a walk to have some time to herself, she bid her parents goodbye and left for the fields, her heart racing as she hurried to meet with her boyfriend for a long-awaited Valentine's date.

While most of Green Hill's young couples spent that afternoon engaged in romantic activities in town, Miles and Maria were confined to the privacy of their secret hill. They didn't mind that they couldn't celebrate in public, however, for they were content just to be in each other's company. With only two hours to be together on the most romantic day of the year, they weren't going to waste a second of it lamenting the circumstances. They shared kisses, laughed over stories and the shapes of the clouds, and watched the sunset from their tree while holding hands. Brief as it might have been, it was still a perfect Valentine's Day.

As the sun slowly sank toward the horizon, the light gray hedgehog felt her spirits rising. In excitement, she coaxed the lavender hedgehog to the edge of the hill's crest and impulsively pulled him to roll down the slope with her, the pair of them laughing as they fell into each other's arms at the bottom. Lifting himself, the teenage boy gazed down at the girl lying beside him. The light of the sunset illuminated her face to a silvery glow, and her blue eyes shone more brightly than any of the stars in the night sky. In that moment, she was the loveliest girl in the world.

"My god, you're beautiful", Miles breathed, hardly daring to believe this was real. His girlfriend smiled with all her natural charm, and pulled him close to kiss his lips.

"You are so sweet", said Maria, then added slyly, "My mom was right about you."

The lavender hedgehog furrowed his brow before asking what she meant. The light gray hedgehog told him about her conversation with her parents and the vibe her psychic mother had sensed from the forget-me-nots. The boy smiled in amazement.

"No kidding!" he laughed. "Your mom can really do that?"

"Yeah, and now my parents know there's a special boy in my life."

"Well, for what it's worth, I think my parents are on to me too. My mom's pretty sharp, kind of like yours. She figured out there's a girl I like, and she's pretty happy about it. She and my dad asked if I had plans today. I think they hoped I'd say yes."

"You know, I think we're really starting to make a change!" Maria gazed fondly up into her boyfriend's green eyes. "Maybe our families will get along someday, and..."

"...Maybe they'll let us be together." Miles finished the thought with a hopeful smile. "And they'll come to terms with the truth..."

"That I love you", the light gray hedgehog whispered, serenity in her eyes.

"And that I love you", said the lavender hedgehog, and with that, the teenagers kissed passionately as the sun vanished beyond the horizon and their happiness lifted their spirits into the twilight heavens above.

For the blissful months they'd been together, life was beautiful to the young successors of Chaos and Control. But as Miles and Maria were soon to discover, fate had an ugly side as well, and their perfect world was in imminent danger of being shattered virtually beyond repair.


	7. The Breaking Point

Chapter 7 – The Breaking Point

For half a year, the people of Chaos and Control remained blissfully unaware that while they were busy with their trivial arguments, a secret plan was being orchestrated by two young lovers from opposing sides hoping to initiate a new era of peace for Green Hill. Six months into the affair, Miles and Maria were falling deeper in love by the day, and they were more determined than ever to prove that love could indeed conquer all. Unfortunately, with the arrival of spring, this trust was about to be put to a tremendous test, and there was no guarantee it would survive.

As the month of March rolled in, the students of Emerald High grew anxious about the end of another trimester, poring over their books and rejoining their old study groups in preparation for the upcoming week of exams. For the second time that school year, the teenage successors of Chaos and Control prepared for the time they wouldn't be able to meet after school while tutoring hours were left open. To help ease the separation, Lily dismissed the couple from their last Friday meeting so they could have one more afternoon together before exam prep began.

Grateful to the lilac hedgehog for her understanding, Miles and Maria left the last class on Friday and headed straight to the broken bleachers. There they stayed for the last hour they would have together for three weeks. As much as they would have loved to meet on their hill on Saturdays, they had agreed that now that their parents were aware of possible romance in their lives, they needed to be cautious about arousing any more suspicion than was necessary. Until they could acknowledge their love openly and without fear, this one encounter at school would have to suffice.

Halfway into their hour, the hedgehogs sat at the wall behind the bleachers, leaning back against the cool masonry as they held hands and gazed quietly ahead through the structure's metal beams and wooden rows. While they often spent their time together talking, every now and then, they found peace in a long pause, simply content to be in each other's company. Sometimes they didn't need words; just to forget the outside world was enough.

"I had a dream last night", said Maria softly, breaking the calm silence. Miles sat up straighter and faced her, suddenly curious.

"A good dream?"

The light gray hedgehog looked down timidly as a hopeful smile graced her lips.

"A wonderful dream", she said, leaning her head gently on her boyfriend's shoulder. "I dreamed that it was our senior prom, and you and I were there together, as a couple. We were slow dancing in the middle of the floor, and the best part was that no one around us seemed to mind. It was like... nobody cared anymore about the war between Chaos and Control. Everybody just got along."

"That sounds nice", whispered the lavender hedgehog, laying his head over his girlfriend's with a sigh.

"It really was", said Maria. "I just hope it can be true someday..."

The couple squeezed each other's hand a little tighter, staring at the white tarp until an idea suddenly struck Miles.

"Hey!" said the boy, lifting his head to face his girlfriend again. "What if it wasn't just a dream?"

"What do you mean?" The girl looked up at her boyfriend, intrigued.

"Well, you're still trying to find your Gi- Calling, right? And you said your mom can see the future in her dreams..."

"Yeah..."

"So... what if this is it?" Miles was enthusiastic. "What if you got your mom's Calling, and your dream wasn't just a dream? What if it was a vision about the future, saying our plan is really gonna work and everyone'll get along someday?"

Maria's smile widened, but she shook her head. "I doubt it. As great as that would be, my mom told me that I'd be able to recognize a vision by how real and vivid it feels. And I'm sorry, but this one felt like a normal dream."

"Are you sure? Really think about it. Were Sonia and Rex there?"

The light gray hedgehog paused to recall the details of her dream. "...Yes, actually. They were standing somewhere off the dance floor, talking to each other... and they were laughing. It was like... they were friends."

"Yeah, that does sound like a dream", the lavender hedgehog laughed, "but that doesn't mean it couldn't happen. At least they were there, right?"

"That doesn't make it a vision for sure. It's probably up to chance, not fate."

Miles broke into a broader grin, a sly glint in his green eyes. "If that's the case, then we'll just take control of chance ourselves. I bet if we play this right, we can make our cousins get along, and maybe become friends for real someday."

"Oh?" Maria raised her brow skeptically. "And how are we gonna do that?"

The young boy hesitated, leaning back against the wall again. Looking up at the bleachers, he could see the outlines of the many cracks in the stands, as well as a few holes where the wood had rotted through. Maintenance budget issues from some years back had prompted the school board to opt for metal bleachers, leaving the original wooden ones aside until the school could afford to refurbish them. In the meantime, they served well enough as a meeting place for two students hiding their love from the rest of their town.

"We'll figure something out", the lavender hedgehog said, confidence in his eyes and in his voice as he faced his girlfriend again. "You'll see."

With a bright smile, the light gray hedgehog leaned her head against her boyfriend's again, and the couple resumed gazing through the stands in silence. Perhaps Miles was right, and Sonia and Rex would learn to get along after all. Even if Maria's dream was just a dream, it still gave hope for the future, and they would do everything they could to make it work.

* * *

Almost two weeks after their last meeting, the teenage lovers grew anxious for the end of another exam week to bring that first sweet moment when they could finally fall into each other's arms again. In the meantime, an interesting opportunity presented itself on the Thursday of the second prep week, and the boy had no intention of letting it go to waste.

For the last period of the day, the Language Arts teacher – a middle-aged green parrot named Mrs. Fletcher – decided to dedicate the lesson to the review of the novel she had issued her students a month ago. Ironically, the story was centered around a noble girl living in the Renaissance period, who found herself in the complicated position of having fallen mutually in love with a merchant's son. Knowing her traditionalist family would not approve of a match with anyone lower in class than a nobleman, the teenage protagonists began a secret affair that led into a chain of events culminating in a tragic ending involving both their deaths. While their teacher might have argued that her choice of such a story for Literature class was to explore the romantic limitations implemented by social hierarchy in the past, Miles and Maria found their attention was drawn instead to the similarities between the main characters' fictional romance and their own real-life forbidden love, which were so numerous and so striking, it almost made them wonder if the choice of novel had been made with them in mind. Almost...

"Ms. Maria Hedgehog?"

At the sound of her name, the girl looked up from the open book on her desk, her heart jolting when she saw the parrot at the front of the room staring at her. Mrs. Fletcher lowered the chalk from the board as she gazed at her flustered student.

"Why was Ronan banished from the city?" asked the teacher calmly. The light gray hedgehog paused, still recovering from her distraction as she glanced at her book.

"Because he attacked and almost killed Count Pierre", she replied, facing the parrot again. Mrs. Fletcher nodded.

"And why did he attack the count?"

"Because he saw him harassing Julia in the city square, and it made him angry."

"Very good, Ms. Hedgehog." The teacher added this plot point to the outline on the board before turning to face the class again. "Now for a more subjective question: what do you think about the way Ronan handled the situation?"

The teenage girl nervously averted her gaze from the adult. Mrs. Fletcher was notorious among her students for asking as much for their opinions as for the facts, a teaching technique she used to promote critical thinking. Maria had expected a question of this sort, but that didn't mean she was prepared for it. As she stared at the pages of her book again, the hedgehog couldn't help but see the parallels between the characters and their real-life counterparts, but she managed to keep her focus on the story as she replied.

"I think he messed up", she said, looking up again. "He was too reckless. He acted out of anger without thinking, and it cost him the life he had with Julia. He drew attention to himself too soon. It was a mistake."

The parrot nodded. "Interesting... So what should he have done instead?"

"I think he should have continued to lay low. Even if he didn't like what he saw going on, the man was a count, and he was just a merchant boy. There was no way that fight could have ended well for anyone. It's just common sense."

After praising the girl for her excellent answers, Mrs. Fletcher prepared to move on to the next chapter. Before she could call another student, however, she was distracted by a hand being raised on the other side of the classroom.

"Yes, Mr. Hedgehog?"

Maria turned sharply to her right to see that the raised hand belonged to the lavender hedgehog in the Control half of the room. Sensing that he had some sort of mischievous plan in mind, she felt her heart skip a beat as he lowered his arm.

"I disagree."

Miles's statement was met with amusement from the Control students and contempt from the Chaos ones. The teacher raised her brow.

"Do you, now? By all means, please elaborate."

"Well, Ronan loved Julia, and he couldn't stand to see her being pushed around. He attacked Count Pierre to defend her honor. Even if it did get him kicked out of town, isn't what he did still kind of heroic? Doesn't he at least deserve credit for standing up for the girl he loves?"

A murmur of agreement rose up from the Control group while the parrot acknowledged her student's reasoning with a nod.

"Good point, Mr. Hedgehog", she said, and evidently seeing the opportunity to start a debate, she turned back to the girl. "Ms. Hedgehog, how do you respond to that?"

Maria could feel her cheeks turning red as all eyes fell on her, but the encouragement from the Chaos group brought a smile to her face, and soon enough, she found the confidence to reply.

"Whether it was heroic or not is beside the point", said the girl, facing the teacher instead of the boy. "What matters is if it was worth it. Attacking a nobleman in public made it obvious he was in love with Julia. That's what led to her being disgraced and almost rejected by her family. That's why the jealous count sent his men to kill Ronan when he came back for her. The point is, all of that could have been avoided."

"So what?" said Miles, facing the light gray hedgehog. "Some pompous jerk is pestering the love of his life, and he's just supposed to stand there and do nothing?"

"If it means he'll have a better chance of being with her in the long run, yes." Maria turned to face the lavender hedgehog, getting more caught up in the excitement of debating by the second. "With a little more time, maybe they could have gotten her family to accept him, like they originally planned."

"Maybe... but let's not forget that his family didn't even like hers. It's not like they had much of a chance anyway. I say Julia should have just run away with Ronan the first time he asked, before the whole mess with the count started."

"She couldn't do that! What about her family? She had to at least try to make things work with him in the city before resorting to shaming her own parents."

"You mean the people who didn't care enough about their own daughter to let her be with whoever she wanted? Yeah, I can see why she'd choose them over love."

"It's not that they didn't care about her", the girl laughed. "On the contrary: they wanted her to end up with someone they considered worthy. That's how parents have always been, especially back then. She didn't really choose her family over love. That's the whole point: she's trying to have both."

"And ends up with neither", said the boy matter-of-factly. "Julia's parents shun her when they find out the truth, the count gets his revenge on Ronan when they try to run away, and in the end, she dies of a broken heart. Nobody wins."

"So you're saying that it was all _her_ fault for not choosing the easy way out when she had the chance? Isn't he also to blame for trying to be a hero at the wrong time? Who's to say she couldn't have stood up for herself?"

"Not me", said Miles innocently. "I'm sure she could have handled herself just fine. But for argument's sake, let's say they never had a chance. If push came to shove long before the fight and she knew she'd have to choose between happiness and status... wasn't happiness the better option? Didn't she deserve that much?"

It was only when she paused that Maria noticed the tense silence that had fallen over the room. With the rest of the class watching the discussion like a tennis match, Mrs. Fletcher took it upon herself to interrupt before a real conflict could start.

"You both make valid points. This is excellent. Now why don't we see what some of the other students think?"

Having reduced their awareness to only each other during their exchange, the hedgehogs smiled innocently and looked around at the class. It didn't take long for their peers to start voicing their own opinions.

"I'm with Miles", said Sonia, the first to speak. "Ronan did the right thing by defending Julia. At least it showed he had the guts to stand up to that jerk Pierre."

"Guts had nothing to do with it", Rex countered. "He was a hothead with no self-control. Maria's right: if Ronan had known how to keep his cool instead of blowing his top and almost killing a guy, the whole mess could have been avoided."

"But that's not consistent with his character!" said the vixen. "Ronan is by nature an impulsive and romantic guy. That's how he won Julia in the first place! You think if he just kept to himself, they still would have gotten together? She's the levelheaded one; that's why she wouldn't have made the first move, and also why she probably wouldn't have stood up to the count herself."

"She had good reason, though", Angelica chimed in. "Just because she didn't stand up to Pierre doesn't mean she couldn't. Julia was smart; she knew she had to play it cool with the count while she figured out how to get Ronan in good with her parents."

"I think Miles and Maria both made good points", said Lily, whose face had turned a bright shade of pink. "Ronan is brave and passionate, and Julia is smart and loyal. They're a good match. What we really have to consider is the time period when the story takes place. Romance was much more limited back then; marriage was more about business than love. In my opinion, the real villains of the story are society and the main characters' families. If they hadn't put so much importance on social status and tradition, not to mention their own bitterness toward each other, Ronan and Julia could have had a happy ending."

Murmurs of concurrence rose up from the rest of the class; at least on this point, most of the students were willing to agree with the lilac hedgehog. Miles and Maria glanced at each other and smiled before looking back up at their teacher. However, the next argument revealed that there was one person in the room who didn't agree.

"But why should Julia even be with Ronan in the first place?"

All heads turned to face the speaker: the purple cat sitting at the back of the Chaos half of the room. As silence fell over the class, Mrs. Fletcher spoke again.

"Why do you say that, Mr. Princeton?"

Eugene glanced around at his peers before replying. "Julia's a high-class girl from a long line of noble blood. Ronan's a trader whose name didn't mean anything until a decade before the story starts. He's new money, a class below her. Why should she choose a nobody who's not good enough for her over a nobleman of pure lineage?"

The awkward pause that followed promised several opposing arguments to arise. Before any of these had a chance to surface, however, the simplest of all came first, to everyone's surprise, from the timid light gray hedgehog staring over her shoulder at the cat with incredulity in her dark blue eyes.

"Because she loves him."

This point was met with more agreement from Chaos and Control students alike. Eugene was not convinced.

"That doesn't mean he's right for her. After Ronan attacks Count Pierre and gets thrown out of the city, he has nothing left to offer Julia. At least the count could have given her everything she needed."

"But nothing she wanted", said Maria boldly. "That's what makes Julia such a deep and complex character: she knows there's more to life than wealth. She refuses to give in to social protocol and instead chooses to be with someone who actually cares about her and makes her happy. She chooses love."

"And look how well that turns out for her", said the cat bitterly. "Between two guys who love her, she chooses the reckless boy who almost killed someone over the sensible man of honor, and she ends up dead. How is that the better option?"

"At least Ronan is brave enough to fight his own battles!" Miles interjected, and all eyes turned to him. "Pierre sends his men to weaken Ronan before finishing him off himself. The guy's a coward and a scumbag, and frankly, Julia could do better."

"Well, maybe he didn't wanna get his noble hands dirty with the blood of a commoner", said Eugene resentfully.

"Then he never deserved Julia", said the lavender hedgehog bluntly. "If Pierre wasn't willing to fight fairly and to the death for her, then he didn't love her. He saw her as a prize. He wanted her for her name, and he would have forgotten about her the second her family disowned her. But Ronan wanted to be with Julia in spite of her name. He saw her for her kindness, and her intelligence, and her spirit. Even when she was about to lose her status, he came back for her. And if the count hadn't sent his men to spy on the city walls and catch them running away, I guarantee you that Ronan would have done everything he could to give Julia the happy life she deserved. He risked his life for her because she was worth it, because he loved her."

Several of the other students began to nod and mumble in accord. The light gray hedgehog couldn't help but smile, and even Lily shook her head in amusement. The purple cat grew noticeably irritated.

"Well, what about the fact that they didn't even have to die at the end? Julia's parents say they won't throw her out if she agrees to forget about Ronan and marry the count, and Pierre gives Ronan one chance to leave town without Julia and never come back. Instead, she says she'd rather live in the street than marry some stranger, and he chooses to fight even though he's already badly hurt and wouldn't stand a chance. It doesn't make sense! And that whole thing at the end where Julia dies of a broken heart after Ronan gets killed? I just don't buy that. Why would anyone choose death over the chance to live?"

"Because a life without love is not worth living", said Maria, drawing everyone's attention again. "They would rather die than live without each other. Ronan chooses to fight for Julia to free her from her arranged marriage to the count. Pierre gives Ronan an ultimatum between death and a miserable life without the girl he loves. Ronan is ten times the man Pierre could ever be. If you ask me, Julia is much better off in the end; at least she gets to spend eternity with her true love."

Upon speaking those last words, the teenager felt the familiar rush in her heart again. She paid little mind to it, though, for Eugene was already heatedly retorting.

"Look, I'm not rejecting the idea of love completely. I'm just saying... be smarter about it. She couldn't fall for Pierre if she gave him a chance?"

"Trust me", said the girl sharply, staring straight into the cat's icy gray eyes, "she could _never_ fall for Pierre."

Anyone paying close attention to Eugene's face might have noticed the slightest twitching in his eyes. Fortunately, with most of the class still watching the hedgehog, she was the only one to notice this subtle tic.

"Then I guess Julia deserved what she got", he muttered coldly, "if she was willing to give up everything for someone else."

"Not 'someone else'", said Maria, ignoring the chill down her spine, "her soulmate."

"Come on! Why would anyone just accept death like that? For fate? For stupidity?"

"For love!"

Silence fell over the class as everyone realized this last phrase had been spoken by two people at once: the young successors of Chaos and Control. As Miles and Maria looked at each other, Eugene started glancing suspiciously between them... but before he could reach any conclusions, the tension was broken by the shrill ring of the day's final dismissal bell.

"All right, class", said the teacher as her students gathered their belongings. "Excellent work today; I'm very impressed. Remember: we won't have class tomorrow, so I suggest you use the time to study. Have a good weekend!"

As Mrs. Fletcher returned to her desk, the light gray hedgehog headed toward the door with her friends. Seeing another opportunity for a show of peace, she paused before the lavender hedgehog's desk and, with a smile, extended her hand to him.

"Thank you for a good debate, Miles. You argue very well."

The teenage boy, in turn, reciprocated the girl's smile as he shook her hand. "So do you, Maria. Thank _you_. It was fun."

While the teenagers gazed at each other, their cousins stood behind them exchanging cold stares. Before a conflict could arise, however, a voice called out.

"Mr. Hedgehog, Ms. Hedgehog, a word, please..."

Startled, Miles and Maria released each other's hand and turned to see Mrs. Fletcher beckoning them over. After exchanging nervous glances, the hedgehogs slowly approached the parrot while their classmates filed out into the hallway. Once the three of them were alone, the teacher spoke again.

"I have to say, I was very impressed with you two today. You both showed remarkable reasoning skills and equanimity. But what really amazed me was the level of maturity you showed each other. Now, as a teacher, there are certain issues I'm not allowed to discuss, but let's just say that had today's debate been between students like Ms. Prower and Mr. Echidna, it could have played out very differently." Mrs. Fletcher paused as the teenagers laughed softly and accepted her compliments. "Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you two, and also that, for your excellent debating today, I'm awarding you both with extra credit."

Miles and Maria grinned and exchanged looks of excitement before thanking their teacher. The parrot glanced between her students with a bright smile.

"Why just us, Mrs. Fletcher?" asked the light gray hedgehog.

"Because you took the first step, and that takes courage. I hope more of my students learn to live by your standards, for all our sakes."

And with that, Mrs. Fletcher wished the hedgehogs the best of luck and sent them on their way, leaving them to part ways with the hope that they had just accomplished something wonderful.

* * *

The next day, as promised, last-period Language Arts class was cancelled due to a personal affair on the teacher's part. Instead of summoning a substitute unfamiliar with her class, she had decided to leave the period open for her students to study on their own time. As a result, the junior students could be seen leaving early that afternoon, some of them heading for the library, others heading home. Among the more studious were Maria and Angelica, who had decided to spend the period in the library so the hedgehog could help the bat catch up on a few subjects. Meanwhile, Miles and Lily chose to study outside the buildings before normal tutoring hours began, as did the Control and Chaos groups led by Sonia and Rex.

This would come to be remembered as the point where tensions finally snapped, and everything took a turn for the worse.

During their free hour, the Hedgehog twins stayed near the P.E. areas of campus, engaged in conversation with their cousin while she played target practice with a slingshot and a line of empty soda cans on a lunch table several feet away. The siblings wanted to study, but Sonia was only interested in yesterday's debate, a subject with which she was becoming increasingly obsessed.

"Will you let it go already?" Miles laughed. "It was just for fun!"

"Yeah, but it was Maria Hedgehog!" the vixen exclaimed for the umpteenth time, knocking another can clean off the table. "The next leader of Chaos!"

"I know who she is." The lavender hedgehog rolled his eyes. "You only told me about a hundred times."

"And yet you still haven't explained why you're talking to her! First the cafeteria, now a book discussion? What's next: flirting?"

"Cut it out, Sonia!" said Lily. "Leave him alone!"

"Fine, turn on me!" The two-tailed fox threw her hands up in defeat. "You guys never tell me anything! I say anything, you chew my head off. His mystery girl, the whole deal with Maria... No wonder I always feel so left out!"

At this melodramatic display, the twins exchanged glances before rolling their eyes and sighing in exasperation. "Shut up, Sonia."

As the teenage vixen laughed and her cousins smiled again, their conversation was interrupted by another male voice calling out.

"I second that."

Miles, Lily and Sonia looked up in unison to see a group of teenagers approaching from around the gymnasium, led by a red echidna. As the smiles disappeared from their faces, Rex spoke again in a more intimidating tone.

"What? Suddenly at a loss for words? Didn't seem that way yesterday."

"What do you want, Echidna?" snapped the fox. Her rival raised his open palms.

"The same thing you do, Prower", he replied, turning to glare at the lavender hedgehog, "an explanation for yesterday's book debate."

The steely look in Rex's blue eyes sent a chill down Miles's spine, but he masked his unease well behind an innocent showing of his hands.

"Relax", he said as calmly as he could. "What's the big deal?"

"The big deal is that you've been getting a little too friendly with my cousin lately", the red echidna snapped. "And I don't care for it one bit. It's bad enough you notice her all the time. What are you doing talking to her in the middle of class?"

"I didn't mean any harm by it." The lavender hedgehog shrugged. "I saw a chance to talk about an interesting book. It's not like I was trying to embarrass her."

"Please, like you didn't mean to make her uncomfortable! 'I disagree'? You totally put her on the spot!"

"Hang on a sec!" Sonia interjected, pocketing her slingshot as she took a bold step forward. "That's not true! The way I remember it, Mrs. Fletcher put her on the spot, and she actually liked that debate. In fact, she's the one who kept challenging Miles!"

"Maria's good at hiding how she really feels." Rex spared a cold glance at his rival. "And this doesn't concern you, Prower! I want an explanation from Hedgehog."

As the echidna faced him again, Miles moved forward to stand as a barrier between the lead rivals of Chaos and Control.

"Look, I never meant to upset anyone", said the hedgehog calmly. "But I really don't think Maria had a problem with the talk."

"So now you think you know my cousin better than I do?"

"Of course not. I'm just saying... she seemed to have fun discussing the book, and frankly, so did I. Maria's cool, and really smart. It's nice to talk to a girl like that."

"So talk to your sister!" Rex gestured past Miles at the lilac hedgehog on the table behind him. "And quit harassing my cousin!"

"Hey, back off!" yelled the fox, taking another step forth. "Why don't _you_ quit harassing _my_ cousin? He didn't do anything wrong, unless speaking his mind is suddenly a crime."

"Oh, like you don't have a problem with this too, Prower!" The red echidna glared at the vixen again.

"Yeah, I do", said Sonia bitterly. "I have a problem with your faction's princess batting her pretty little eyelashes and charming my friend into forgetting his own name! He never bothered talking to anyone from Chaos before she showed up!"

"Sonia, chill!" Miles stepped between the rivals and gestured for the fox to step back. "I know my name, and I can handle myself, thank you very much."

The hedgehog turned back to the older boy, still hoping to reason with him.

"Look, Rex, I swear I never meant to bother anyone. But if I upset you, I'm sorry."

Lily, who had been growing more nervous by the second, was optimistic about the way her brother was handling the situation. The same could not be said for Sonia.

"What are you doing?" she exclaimed. "Don't apologize! It's not your fault he's a thickheaded overprotective jerk!"

"Hey, unless you wanna walk away with a bruise on that smart mouth of yours, I suggest you shut it!" the echidna yelled, staring coldly at the vixen.

The heated exchange started to attract the attention of their peers, including the fox's Control group approaching from the basketball court. Sensing impending danger, Miles tried to restore civility to the conversation.

"OK, calm down", he said, raising his voice to address both rivals. "Sonia, be nice. Rex, I get that you're standing up for your family, but let's be real. Maria's her own person; she can make her own choices. Don't you think it's fair to let _her_ decide if she doesn't want me talking to her anymore?"

"I've been dealing with Control a lot longer than she has!" Rex replied. "If she's OK with talking to one of you lowlifes, then she's obviously too naïve to make that call herself. You're no different from the rest of 'em, Hedgehog! It wasn't enough to crash her party before she even started school? Embarrassing her in class is going too far. Now get this straight: you leave Maria alone from now on, or you and I can duke it out, and I'll shut that cheeky mouth of yours for you, for good."

Despite the low murmur that rose up from the surrounding spectators and the sharp gasp from his sister, the lavender hedgehog didn't flinch.

"I'm not gonna fight you, Rex", said Miles firmly. "If Maria has a problem with me, she can tell me off herself. I'm not settling this with you."

"Why not?" All eyes turned to the Control leader ranting at her cousin. "You could totally take him, Miles! Why don't you teach him a lesson?"

"Because it's not worth it!" said the hedgehog, turning to Sonia. "There's no point! It's not gonna solve anything."

"He's starting to sound like his sister", said a voice from behind the Chaos leader, and everyone turned to face the purple cat glaring at Miles. "I bet he's scared."

"Stop it, Eugene!" shouted Lily, who rarely snapped at anyone outside her family. "Miles is right: nothing good comes from fighting."

"I don't know", said the echidna with a smirk. "Eugene's got a point. The next head of Control refusing a challenge from Chaos? Maybe he is scared..."

"He is not!" the two-tailed vixen yelled. "Come on, Miles, show him!"

But the lavender hedgehog did not react as most of his watching peers expected. He stared straight into the cat's icy gray eyes, almost feeling the searing jealousy burning within them, before looking away to face Sonia again.

"No", he repeated. "This is ridiculous! I don't have to prove anything to anyone!"

"Sounds like something a coward would say", Rex taunted, and took advantage of the hedgehog's distraction to push his shoulder. Miles stumbled a few steps back, but still did not retaliate, frustrating his cousin even further.

"What are you waiting for?!" she exclaimed, gesturing wildly at her rival as she stared at her friend in disbelief. "You're just gonna take that?"

In truth, Miles Hedgehog did mind being pushed around, especially in public. Despite his placid nature, he could certainly hold his own in a fight, and a fight against Rex Echidna would have been surprisingly matched. However, he knew that violence of any kind between Chaos and Control would be a major setback to being with the girl he loved, and fighting her cousin to defend his own pride was not worth causing her heartache and disappointment.

"You know what, Rex?" said the hedgehog coolly, locking eyes with the echidna as he slowly stepped forward again. "You can say whatever you want; I'm still not gonna fight you. That's all people like you and Sonia ever care about: fighting until somebody wins. And I'm sick of it. You guys have been at each other's throats since kindergarten, and nobody's won yet! Nobody's ever gonna win! I'm not getting caught up in this twisted game of yours. You can threaten me all you want; I'm gonna keep talking to Maria as long as she's OK with it. At least she's got some sense in her head, more than the two of you combined!"

Sonia and Rex fell silent, livid expressions on their faces. Miles walked back to his sister and spoke just loudly enough for the others to hear.

"Come on, Lily. Let's get out of here."

And with that, the siblings grabbed their backpacks, prompting the crowd to slowly disperse in disappointment and the red echidna to bitterly lead his friends back the way they'd come. The only person left standing was the two-tailed vixen, who couldn't come to terms with the way the exchange had played out. If there was one thing Sonia Prower couldn't stand, it was seeing her family be humiliated by someone from Chaos. Her cousin might have been willing to take Rex's abuse, but she wasn't about to let him get away with it.

In one swift motion, the fox pulled out her slingshot, grabbed a pebble by her feet, drew it back, and let it fly. It sailed through the air at high speed until it struck the echidna square in the back of the head, stopping him dead in his tracks. As Rex slowly turned around with a look of shock and fury on his face, cries of surprise rose up from the surrounding witnesses, drawing the attention of the twins already halfway to the main building. Seeing the Chaos leader menacingly approaching their cousin while the other students crowded around again, Miles dropped his backpack and rushed to Sonia's side, stepping between the rivals just before the echidna came near enough to retaliate.

"Hey, hey!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms out to stop them getting any closer to one another. "Calm down! There's no need to fight over this."

"I beg to differ!" said the Control leader. "I'm just doing what you should have done. If you won't teach this jerk not to push you around, I will!"

"Maybe you should listen to your cowardly cousin, Prower", said Rex. "Sounds like he knows better than to cross me."

"You wouldn't cross me either, Echidna", said Sonia coldly, pocketing her slingshot, "if you had enough brain cells to know what was good for you."

"Big talk for such a little girl. You think you'd be half as cocky if you weren't such a freak of nature? Strange world when foxes can fly."

"Fast talk for such a slow guy. How many days did it take you to think of that one?"

"Guys, please!" the lavender hedgehog cried. "Enough! This is crazy!"

"He's right, Prower", said the red echidna without breaking his gaze from his rival's hazel eyes. "It's crazy that you think anyone from Control could take on someone from Chaos when your own future leader is a gutless loser."

In the blink of an eye, the two-tailed vixen shoved her cousin aside and swung her left fist into her rival's nose, sending him stumbling back a few steps. Recovering as the spectators' gasps died down, the boy looked up to see a girl glaring back at him with more fury in her eyes than he could ever remember seeing in them before.

"Say that again!" she screamed. "I dare you!"

An ominous chanting of "Fight! Fight! Fight!" suddenly broke out. Miles wanted to intervene, but before he could take a single step forth, his sister hurried to his side and grabbed him by the arm to warn him of the truth he already knew: it was too late to stop the inevitable. The teenagers of Chaos and Control had been waiting years for a one-on-one fight between their leaders, and they were finally going to see it today.

"You wanna throw down?" Rex yelled. "Let's go!"

Sonia didn't need to be challenged twice, rushing her opponent as fast as her feet would allow. The echidna dodged just in time to avoid the fist being swung at his face again, and countered by whirling around and pushing the fox to throw off her balance. The vixen recovered quickly enough to block the subsequent attack from her rival, swiping his arm away with her right hand and throwing her left fist to strike him in the head. As Rex stumbled sideways, the teenagers from Chaos hissed while those from Control cheered. Sonia had scored the first hit.

Undeterred by the blow, the red echidna faced his opponent again with a stronger fire in his blue eyes. As he started for her again, the fox spun her tails and took to the air, dodging the charge by flying over the boy's head. He'd anticipated this, however; in a single fluid motion, he halted, did a one-eighty, and clipped the girl's shoulder with his fist as she descended. With a sharp cry, she flew back and fell facedown on the grass, much to the delight of her rival's friends and the chagrin of her own. This point had gone to Rex.

This pattern persisted for several minutes: whenever one leader seemed gain the upper hand, the other would retaliate with more aggression, leveling the playing field and further escalating the heat of the struggle. Meanwhile, the two pacifists could only watch in growing anxiety. Miles followed every move of the fight with a pounding heart, while Lily paced between the crowd and the school buildings in search of an adult. But no person of authority would appear, for the staff were all busy indoors and out of earshot during the junior students' open period, and Sonia and Rex would be free to brawl for at least another quarter hour, time the twins couldn't afford.

The rivals fought their way farther from the school buildings, and by the time they reached the training area by the gym, they were out for blood. The Control leader flew around her adversary and kicked him in the back before tackling him to the ground. The Chaos leader elbowed her in the stomach, then jumped to his feet and punched her in the arm. Before she could recover, he charged her and threw her against the wall, but a swift strike to his chest and a kick in his leg forced him back.

The fox took to the air again and landed on the grass some feet from the echidna, the two of them glaring at each other as they recovered their breath. The spectators could see the toll the fight was taking on them: both leaders were badly injured, sporting several scratches and bruises as well as a few tears in their clothes. Sonia had a bad contusion on her left arm while Rex had a large abrasion on the right side of his face, but neither of them had yet lost the resentment in their eyes.

"Had enough yet, Prower?" the boy shouted, watching the panting girl with a smirk.

Sonia was not fazed. She lunged at Rex again, swiping at him as he stepped backwards while repeatedly blocking her punches. This only amused him further.

"That the best you got?" the teenage echidna laughed, noticing the decline in his opponent's energy with each swing she took at his face. "Should have figured. You're weak and pathetic, just like your cousin. Just like the rest of Control."

This was possibly the lowest insult he could have made, and he would later come to remember it as one of the worst mistakes he'd ever made in his life. Enraged, the vixen emitted a sharp howl of fury, ducked to evade a punch from her enemy, and kicked him square in the abdomen. The force behind the blow sent Rex reeling, and he tripped on the edge of the asphalt to fall flat on his back. With the wind knocked out of him, the boy was left vulnerable and very much at his rival's mercy. This was exactly the opportunity she'd been waiting for.

In a fit of rage, Sonia reached for a nearby stack of wooden boards set aside for equipment repairs and grabbed a plank from the top of the pile. The girl then took flight again and zeroed in on her opponent, raising the board to deliver the finishing blow. With no time to evade, the echidna could only brace himself for an attack that would undoubtedly do some serious damage. To the watching crowd, it was clear that the fox was about to win the fight.

Indeed, victory would have gone to Control... were it not for the turn of events that happened next.

Miles hurried to the front of the crowd just as his cousin gained the higher ground. With each passing second, he felt the scene slip further into slow motion and his heartbeat approach mach speed as he realized what was about to happen. If either Sonia or Rex came out of this fight critically injured, it could ruin the plans he and Maria had indefinitely. And that wasn't an option.

As the scene returned to normal speed, the hedgehog saw his chance. While all eyes were on the brawling rivals, the boy bolted forth at high speed, racing the vixen to her target. In one perfectly calculated move, he stepped on a nearby bench, leapt into the air, and caught Sonia in mid-descent, throwing her off and sending them both flying past Rex to crash sideways on the asphalt, the board soaring clear.

The hedgehog and the fox staggered, stunned by the fall. The echidna wasted little time in recovering from the close call, immediately jumping to his feet. Catching sight of his dazed opponent from the corner of his eye, he instinctively focused his Calling and whirled around to throw a punch at the nearest target: one of the twin fox tails sprawled across the floor...

The air was pierced by an earsplitting scream that could easily have reached the farthest corners of the school campus. In the wake of Sonia's anguished cry and the spectators' gasps of shock, Miles sat up and looked at his cousin to find a sickening sight: her left tail was bent back at an odd angle. Words could not describe the chilling sensation overtaking him, twisting around his insides like an icy rope...

Looking up, the lavender hedgehog saw the other boy standing completely still, staring at the vixen's crooked tail with a look of subtle horror. This reaction seemed to go unnoticed by the rest of the teenagers, however, for it wasn't long before the silence was broken by shouts of excitement from the Chaos group. As far as they understood, Sonia's injury had taken her out of commission, and Rex had won.

While the Chaos leader slowly backed away and his friends hurried to congratulate him, Lily rushed over to her cousin to evaluate the gravity of the injury. As Miles rose to his feet, both he and his sister spared a glance at Rex, who seemed to be the only member of his group not ecstatic over his victory. Awestruck, he stared silently at Sonia, lying still on the ground with pure anguish on her face, before finally recovering enough of his senses to speak.

"Let's get out of here", the echidna muttered, and without another word, he turned away from the injured fox and walked off toward the track and field area, his confused friends following suit.

After watching the Chaos group leave, the lavender hedgehog looked back at the Control leader rising to her feet while supporting her weight on the lilac hedgehog. Each wince of pain that crossed her features made Miles feel worse, and by the time she reached the gym wall, he could barely bring himself to look at her. While Lily helped her cousin lean against the bricks and examined her bent tail, Sonia cringed and occasionally yelped in agony.

"Try not to move", the lilac hedgehog said calmly, carefully running her hand along her friend's tail over the point where Rex had punched it.

"Ow, right there!" the vixen exclaimed when her cousin touched a sensitive spot. "That's where it really hurts!"

This worried Lily, and she glanced at Sonia before facing her brother. Miles didn't like the solemn look in his sister's eyes, and dreaded what she was about to say...

"I think it's broken", whispered the lilac hedgehog. A collective gasp rose up from the watching Control group, and their leader sat up to face Lily in wide-eyed shock.

"What?!" she said, hardly daring to believe her cousin's words.

"It's bent back and swollen. If it really hurts, that probably means it's fractured, but in any case, you shouldn't move it until it heals."

The fox knew exactly what that meant, and it took her several seconds to work up the courage to whisper the terrible truth...

"I... I can't fly?"

It was her worst nightmare come true. Horrified, Sonia turned to look up at her other cousin, who was sporting an expression of equal disbelief. The sight of the remorse in his green eyes sparked a great rage within her; without warning, she reached for the ground beside her, grabbed a handful of the gravel lining the building, and threw it at his face with all her might. Miles raised his arm just in time to shield his eyes, but nothing could have spared him from his cousin's wrath.

"What the hell?!" she screamed. "Why did you do that, Miles? Why the hell would you get in the way? Are you crazy?!"

The lavender hedgehog didn't know what to say. He was so wracked with guilt that it took a great effort just to find his voice.

"I thought it was the right thing to do."

"So now I'm crippled because of you? Because you had to be the good boy who stopped all the fighting? What if this never fully heals? I'll never fly again!"

"Sonia, calm down", Lily pleaded. "It's gonna be OK. Let's go to the nurse's office."

"You gave Rex that chance!" The vixen ignored the lilac hedgehog, her eyes fixed on the boy. "You cost me the fight! You cost me my Gift! Screw you! _Screw you both_!"

As the girl's voice broke with tears of rage, Miles felt his heart drop into the pit of his stomach. Sonia was right: it was all his fault. He had thrown her off her game, and now she had lost one of the few things that truly mattered to her. He couldn't recall a time when he had ever felt so guilty. There was nothing he could say to make his cousin forgive him... but there was something he could do to make it up to her...

Gazing quietly at the fox's broken tail, the lavender hedgehog felt a new emotion mixing with his guilt: anger. Even if he had provided the opening, Rex was the one who had thrown the final punch, who had taken something precious away from Sonia. He had crossed a line, and he was going to pay.

Without warning, Miles turned on his heel and bolted past the surrounding teenagers toward the track and field area. As he knocked a few of his cousin's friends aside, his sister rose swiftly to her feet and called out to him.

"Miles? Miles, wait!"

But her brother would not stop, not while there was a score to be settled. This wasn't over yet.

Miles raced after the Chaos group, his heart pounding in his ears. He reached the track within a minute, and turned the corner to see Rex and his friends at the opposite end, close to the bleachers. Before the group could take another step toward the campus boundaries beyond the football field, the hedgehog called out.

"REX!"

At the sound of his name, the red echidna stopped dead in his tracks and turned around, his friends doing the same. The sight of the boy staring at him from across the track filled him with anxiety, which fortunately went unnoticed by his peers. For several seconds, no one moved or spoke, the boys glaring at one another across several yards while the rest of the group waited in nerve-racking silence.

Then the tension broke.

In the blink of an eye, Miles dashed forth at high speed, barreling straight for the group leader. Rex barely had time to react before he was thrown to the floor at full force. The hedgehog's inertia propelled him to roll a few feet past his target before springing to his feet, providing enough of a break for the echidna to do the same. The boys faced each other again, anger growing in their eyes while confusion lingered on the faces of the spectators.

"What do you want, Hedgehog?" said Rex warily, bracing for another fight.

"Revenge for Sonia!" Miles shouted. "I want payback for what you did to her!"

The echidna fell silent, as if those words had touched a nerve. His friends didn't take this threat nearly as seriously. They seemed genuinely amused at the challenge against their leader, and it was instantly met with derisive laughter.

"She deserved it", said Eugene with a smirk. "Maybe if she wasn't such a hothead, she'd still be able to fly."

The lavender hedgehog felt the blood rush to his face, but he didn't break his cold gaze from the leader's blue eyes. It struck him as curious that Rex was not sharing in his friends' amusement... but now was not the time to dwell on curiosities.

"You walked away", said the echidna bitterly. "And you tried to stop us. Now you wanna fight? Why the sudden change of heart?"

"Because it's my fault too!" Miles yelled. "It might as well have been _my_ hand that broke Sonia's tail. I'm here to settle the score. It's the least I can do for her."

Some of the others started to move toward the boy from Control, but their leader held an arm out to stop them. After eyeing the hedgehog carefully, he nodded.

"Fine, let's go. I still wanna teach you not to get too close with my cousin."

"Not if I teach you first not to take _my_ cousin's Gift!"

The teenage boys glared silently at each other while the rest of the group stepped back. Suddenly, Miles lunged at Rex, swinging his right fist wildly at his opponent's face. The echidna blocked the attack just in time to avoid being punched in the nose, swiping the hedgehog's arm out of the way and pushing him back. Unable to recover in time, Miles stumbled and fell to the ground, drawing more laughter from the group.

The boy was not fazed, rolling sideways to evade a punch from Rex and jumping to his feet again. While the red echidna bounced back, the hedgehog kicked him from behind, sending him tumbling to the floor.

This last move was unexpectedly met with cheers from a distance. Looking up, Miles saw several more teenagers approaching from across the track: his cousin's Control group. Unfortunately, his distraction cost him his advantage; no sooner had he returned his attention to the fight than he was dodging another attack from the Chaos leader, taking a few steps back to avoid a right hook to the head. Meanwhile, Sonia's friends joined the others, gathering in the space opposite the rival group to follow the rest of the match in excitement. All but one.

After leaving her cousin in the nurse's office, Lily ran from the school's main building to the track, where she hurried to the front of the crowd to call her brother before yet another fight could get out of hand.

"Miles, stop!" the lilac hedgehog cried. "Please don't do this!"

"Stay out of this, Lily!" Miles yelled without taking his eyes off the echidna. "I have to do this."

"What for? It won't change anything! Fighting Rex can't fix Sonia's tail. What's done is done. Don't make things worse!"

"Listen to your sister, Hedgehog", said Rex, circling his opponent as he did the same. "It'd be a shame if I had to send two future heads of Control to the nurse in one day. Why don't you take the cowardly way out like before?"

The lavender hedgehog feinted a sharp step forward, causing his adversary to flinch. This fight wasn't going to be won by default.

"Go back to the nurse, Lily", the younger boy called to his sister. "Take care of Sonia; she needs you. I can handle myself."

Realizing there was nothing she could say that would change her brother's mind, the lilac hedgehog retreated from the crowd and started back toward the main building, unwilling to witness yet another battle between Chaos and Control. The second she disappeared, Miles charged at Rex again. In seconds, the real fight began.

The hedgehog wildly threw his fist at the echidna, just missing his face and clipping his shoulder instead. The Chaos leader retaliated with another swipe at his adversary, catching him in the arm with enough force to push him sideways. As the shouting from the spectators persisted, the punches continued to fly, leaving everyone on edge to see what would happen next.

Throughout the brawl, both boys took full advantage of their abilities with expert skill. Miles evaded his opponent's attacks with lightning-quick reflexes, while Rex used his impressive strength to block most of the swings aimed at him and counter them with intimidating force. Much like the previous fight, this struggle was evenly matched, and it was anyone's guess who would emerge victorious.

Ducking to avoid another punch thrown at his head, the hedgehog spun his leg around to trip the echidna and send him stumbling. The 17-year-old boy could only steady himself, with no time for a full recovery. Miles swung his fist just as Rex turned to him again, and caught the echidna square in the nose.

As the Chaos leader reeled back a few steps, the crowd flew into an uproar. Upon regaining his composure, Rex briefly touched his sore face, then tentatively lowered his hand. At the sight of the red stains on his fingers, his rage intensified, and he looked up to face his rival with a greater fire in his blue eyes.

Infuriated at losing the chance to draw the first blood, the echidna charged at the hedgehog again. Miles continued to dodge the attacks, but his opponent's heightened fury seemed to have increased his speed, and it was becoming more difficult to keep the upper hand. Sure enough, a small misstep cost him the single-second advantage he'd been holding for most of the fight, leaving an opening for Rex to throw a powerful jab that hit him in his left eye. The force behind the punch sent the 16-year-old boy staggering back, drawing a collective cheer from the Chaos half of the crowd and gasps from the Control group.

Miles paused to place a hand over his throbbing eye, looking up at the older boy. The look of satisfaction on the red echidna's face sparked a deeper ire in the lavender hedgehog; he wouldn't tolerate such smugness from the boy who had wounded his cousin. This fight was about to get much more serious.

The boys kept on brawling with increasing vigor, greater power and speed thrown into every new attack. Before long, they were pushing each other farther from the track, and by the time Miles and Rex reached the farthest end of the main bleachers, the final dismissal bell rang throughout the campus, signaling the new threat of adults who would soon be leaving their classrooms. This idea made all the youth of Chaos and Control nervous. All except the two boys vying for revenge.

At the first signs that teachers might approach the track, the spectators began to disperse. Having been warned several times of the school's minimal tolerance for violence, no one was willing to risk being caught at the scene of this fight. The principal had made it clear long ago that anyone found guilty of so much as enabling such a fight would be in serious trouble, and as kind as Principal Hornsby usually was, nobody wanted to be sent to his office. Within minutes, the crowd had retreated to watch the fight from a distance, leaving the hedgehog and the echidna on their own.

Anxious at the chance of being caught before getting his revenge, Miles retreated around the corner of the bleachers to lure Rex toward the restricted section past the track and field area. The echidna was quick to follow, staying in hot pursuit of the hedgehog as he ran farther into the seclusion of the school's old wooden bleachers. Out of sight of their peers, the boys continued to throw all the energy they could muster into their attacks, but as the fight carried on, it became apparent that the scales were tilting in favor of Chaos...

For all the agility and wits Miles possessed, Rex still had the advantage in power and stamina, and the longer the fight lasted, the more favorable the latter's abilities became. With a black eye and several bruises, the boy from Control was in considerably worse shape than his Chaos rival, whose gravest injury so far was a bloody nose. Running ever lower on energy and time, the lavender hedgehog had to think fast if he was going to regain an edge over the red echidna...

Moving farther past the stands, Miles realized they had reached the bleachers under which he would meet with his girlfriend, the covered stands he knew only too well. It was then that an idea occurred to him, a plan that he could use to turn the tables. Quick as a flash, the young hedgehog dove out of the way of another punch aimed at his face and darted past Rex to leap onto the tarp, exactly where he knew the steps would be. If the echidna wanted to continue the fight, he would have to follow his opponent onto unfamiliar ground.

The Chaos leader was too proud to refuse this challenge; he had put too much effort into this fight to back out now. Enraged at the curve he'd just been thrown, Rex glared lividly up into Miles's green eyes before bolting forth to follow him up the bleachers. The hedgehog jumped a step backwards, continuing to stare down at the echidna with confidence. This was his ground, and he held all the aces here.

For every cautious step Rex took up the stands, Miles took two with unparalleled ease. After months of gazing up at these broken rows, the hedgehog knew every concealed crack and hole so well, he could effortlessly trace a path to the sturdier spots, even backwards. If he could just make it to the other side of the bleachers, he would be far enough out of the echidna's reach to either invoke a stalemate or leave enough of an opening during Rex's retreat for a finishing attack that would win the match for Control. Either way, Chaos could no longer claim victory.

Miles reached the opposite end of the stands just as his opponent stepped onto the same row. The two of them stopped to stare at each other coldly, but the hedgehog had chosen his position carefully so as to make his advantage clear to the echidna: in the middle of the row was a sizable tear in the old tarp, revealing a large spot of rotten wood. There was no way the Chaos leader could move closer without risking his safety. As far as the boy from Control had determined, this fight was his.

Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on a game-changing factor: Rex's stubbornness.

Unwilling to admit defeat, the red echidna glanced repeatedly between the damaged wood and the other boy before taking a cautious step forward. The lavender hedgehog had not anticipated this, and he felt his heart jolt. This section of the plank was just sturdy enough to hold his weight, but the added burden of another person would likely prove too great a strain on the precarious wood. If that happened, there was no telling how bad the repercussions would be...

Miles's eyes grew wide as he shot a pleading look at his adversary, silently urging him not to take a single step closer. Rex, however, interpreted this as a sign of disbelief, like he was calling a bluff. It had to be. Why else would the hedgehog deliberately put himself in such a dangerous position?

Deciding there was little reason to worry, the echidna took another step forth, this time with more conviction. At the sight of Miles watching his feet while shifting his own, Rex felt a surge of satisfaction that drove him to dart at his opponent right over the patch in the tarp. This turned out to be a horrible mistake.

The second his foot touched the exposed wood, the Chaos leader felt the plank beneath him shudder, causing a loud splintering noise that also reached the hedgehog's ears. By the time the echidna realized what was happening, it was too late to avoid disaster. The frail wood cracked open, the plank gave way, and the next thing he knew, he was falling through the hole into the space below, catching one last glimpse of a lavender blur moving toward him before everything went dark.

Alarmed by the sound of splitting timber, Miles realized what was about to happen a split second before it did. Quickly as he could, the young hedgehog dove for the breaking patch just as Rex began to sink through it, hoping to stop the echidna's fall and help him back to safety. Unfortunately, the split in the plank extended to his own feet before he could even reach his target, and in seconds, he too was tumbling through the ripping tarp and splintering wood toward the ground. Miles fell straight through the gaps between the metal beams and landed feet first before collapsing to the floor. After recovering enough of his senses to look up again, he discovered that Rex had not been so lucky.

The lavender hedgehog froze, horrified by the sight that met his eyes: lying some feet away, sprawled facedown amid scattered pieces of wood, was the motionless figure of the red echidna. As he slowly rose into a sitting position, the young successor of Control gazed at the Chaos leader in disbelief, feeling his insides churning with dread. Sparing a glance up at the stands, he could see the gaping hole where the rotting plank had collapsed, and following the path from the broken wood to the ground, he realized Rex must have hit his head on one of the beams. Numb with more guilt than he had ever felt in his life, Miles stared unblinkingly at the immobile echidna, so shocked that he barely noticed when a girl suddenly appeared from nowhere, brushing past him as she ran toward the other boy...

Lily fell to her knees by Rex's side and placed two fingers on his neck, carefully tracing a line beneath his jawbone. While the lilac hedgehog checked for vital signs, her brother slowly rose to his feet and cautiously moved forward, all the while focusing on the echidna's face.

"Lily, how did...?"

"I followed you. I knew this couldn't end well..."

After a few tense moments, the girl breathed a sigh of relief. The lavender hedgehog tentatively spoke again.

"Is he...?"

"Alive", said Lily, lowering her hand and looking up at her twin. "It's a concussion, but he'll probably end up with a sprained arm too."

The lilac hedgehog pointed at Rex's right arm, which was trapped beneath him at an irregular angle. The siblings gazed at each other without another word, awestruck by what had just happened... until noises from outside the tarp broke the silence. The girl glanced nervously over her shoulder as the sound of approaching voices filled the air, then turned sharply to face her twin.

"Miles, you need to leave", she whispered urgently. "Now."

The lavender hedgehog was still in too much shock to do anything more than glance anxiously between the people before him. His sister tried again.

"I'm serious! If Chaos gets here first, they're not gonna wait for an explanation before they lynch you! You need to get out of here!"

The voices were getting closer; the confused groups of Chaos and Control were searching for the missing boys. Still, Miles barely moved, only taking a few steps back as he stared at the unconscious echidna. Lily grabbed a set of keys from her pocket and tossed it at her brother, who jolted back to reality as he caught the keychain.

"Run back to the study and lock yourself in", she said as he faced her. "Don't open the door for anyone. I'll get a spare key from the front office and meet you there. Go around the back so no one sees you. Now go, before they find you here!"

The lavender hedgehog stayed frozen in place, breathing heavily as he looked at Rex again. The others were almost right outside the bleachers now...

"What are you doing?! _Get out of here_!"

Miles turned sharply on his heel and ran as fast as his feet would carry him, darting through the tarp and out of sight. Racing toward the library building, he sensed his heart pounding harder than ever against his chest, and as the truth of what he had done finally hit him, he felt the tears in his eyes welling fast for the girl he loved and their beautiful dreams that he had destroyed possibly forever.


End file.
